Wrens

Wrens is a house, likely originally two cottages, dating from the late 18th century to early 19th century, with possible earlier origins. It has been renovated and modernised multiple times in the 20th century. The building is constructed of plastered local stone rubble, featuring stone rubble stacks with plastered brick chimney shafts, and has a thatched roof.

The house has a four-room plan built across the hillslope, facing southwest. At the southeast end is a parlour with a rear lateral stack. Next to it is the entrance hall, with stairs located behind and a two-storey porch in front. To the left of centre is the former kitchen, which has an axial stack backing onto an unheated room at the left end. It is believed that the house was originally built as a pair of two-room plan cottages, with the porch added when the cottages were combined. The house is two storeys high, with an outshot on the left end that was converted for domestic use around 1970.

The exterior features a nearly symmetrical arrangement of windows, with a 2:1:2 configuration. Most windows are from the 20th century and some lack glazing bars, but three of the first-floor windows are possibly original 19th-century casements with rectangular panes of leaded glass. The porch is gabled, and the roof is half-hipped on the right and hipped on the left, extending over the outshot.

The interior largely reflects 19th and 20th-century modernisations. All ground floor beams are replacements from the 20th century. The fireplace in the parlour has been rebuilt using sections of old beams, while the kitchen fireplace has been altered but shows evidence of having once had an oak-framed front. The roof was not inspected, but the bases of straight principals were observed on the first floor. Wrens is part of a group of attractive buildings that make up the hamlet of Beacon.