Church Steps Cottages

A row of six cottages, dating back to the late 16th century, with possible earlier origins, and further development in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. The construction utilizes roughcast cob on stone footings, with gabled corrugated-iron roofs to numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6, and slate roofs to numbers 1 and 2. The original plan is complex, suggesting that numbers 5 and 6 were initially a small 3-room house with a through-passage. A doorway in number 5 now sits on the passage's former location. The higher end was originally to the right, housing a hall and inner room, now split between numbers 5 and 6, with a door inserted during the conversion to cottages. A hall chamber belongs to number 5. Evidence suggests a rear lateral stack to heat the hall; a lower-end stack, now axial, was originally at the end of the structure; a right-hand end stack is present, and axial stacks serve the remaining cottages. Number 4 is an early extension to the service end of numbers 5 and 6, also constructed using jointed cruck framing. The other cottages have a simpler 18th or early 19th century design, with a single-room, single-depth plan. Number 1 has a small barn extension, partially converted to living space. The cottages are two storeys high. The front of number 1 features one 4-pane sash window, a 2-light casement, one blocked window on the first floor, a sash window, and a late 20th-century door below. Number 2 has one blocked and one early 19th-century 2-light casement window above, and a 2:2:2-pane canted bay with a planked door and rectangular fanlight on the ground floor. Number 3 displays 2-light casement windows on both floors, and a panelled door. Number 4's windows are not regularly arranged, reflecting its extension origins. Number 5 is larger, displaying two early 19th-century 2-light casement windows on the first floor, with possible older embrasures, and eaves-level lintels, two later 2-light casement windows and a wide doorway below. Number 6 features three 2- and 3-light casement windows similarly placed to those of number 5, and one 2- and one 3-light casement windows with a door between on the ground floor. The rear of the cottages incorporates an outshut under a catslide roof to numbers 5 and 6, and lean-to additions to the others. Inside, a jointed cruck roof exists in numbers 4 and 6 (number 5 was not inspected internally), while roofs with straight principals are found in numbers 1, 2, and 3.