277 AND 279, ABLINGTON

Nos 277 and 279 in Ablington are two cottages built in the 16th and 18th centuries. They are timber framed with whitewashed brick noggings. The west gable has been rebuilt and is partly tile hung, while the eastern two bays were likely rebuilt in the 18th century using brick laced flint. The cottages have thatched roofs and are single-storey with attics. No 277 consists of two bays with a central half bay that contains a stack, while No 279 has one wide bay and one narrow bay. Both cottages feature doors with glazed panels and thatched canopies, with the door to No 277 leading into the main living room. They have paned casement windows, a raised gabled dormer over the living room of No 277, and one rebuilt flush dormer. The roofs are half hipped.

Inside No 277, there are two cruck trusses, both of base cruck form with tenons for a missing upper truss. The interior features a cambered chamfered collar and tie ends that support the wall plates. This cruck building was remodelled in the mid-17th century, with a new centre truss added approximately one metre to the west of the cruck frame, and a new truss at the west gable, featuring straight long wind braces. All rafters throughout are heavily smoke blackened. A secondary truss between the two central trusses also has smoke blackened wattling. The living room includes a blocked open fireplace with a chamfered timber lintel, a chamfered spine beam with check and scoop stops, and a similar beam that is partly exposed on the front wall. The end half hip was formed later. No 279 underwent extensive rebuilding around 1964.