Cottage At Peterhayes Farm

The cottage at Peterhayes Farm is a late 17th or early 18th century building, with possible origins from an earlier date. It was altered in the late 18th or early 19th century, and again in the late 19th or early 20th century. The cottage is constructed of local chert rubble stone with a slate roof.

The plan is of a two-storey cottage with two rooms, originally including a cross passage. A rendered gable end stack with a drip course serves a northern room. The principal, east-facing elevation has a central four-plank door, likely dating to the late 17th or early 18th century. The lower section of the door has been repaired with narrower planks, and features horizontal battens and a wooden latch on the interior. Windows of varying size and type are located on either side of the door at both ground and first floor levels. The first-floor window to the north is a four-light timber window with ovolo-moulded mullions. The rear, west-facing elevation has an off-centre plank door and an irregular arrangement of windows.

Inside, the two rooms are separated by a partition wall to the left of the entrance, with a brick plinth and timber upper section. The southern room was reportedly used as a cheese room in the early 20th century and retains a brick floor and corner sink. A window to the rear has plank shutters. The door to this former cheese room is a 20th-century construction of six tongue-and-grooved planks with an iron latch. The main room features a flagstone floor, a fireplace with a chamfered timber lintel on brick jambs, and a later inserted bread oven. To the left of the fireplace is a high-level cupboard with a timber door. The ground floor ceiling has three axial chamfered beams with run-out stops. An enclosed staircase has moulded risers, possibly dating from the early 18th century, while the newel post and rail seem to be from the 19th century. The staircase door is likely early 17th century, with spearhead ends to the strap hinges. On the first floor are two rooms and an additional space to the south. A door to the north room, possibly from the 16th century, sits beneath a cambered door head and is a three-plank door, with wider planks on the exterior and a narrower central plank. This door has two strap hinges with spearhead ends on the exterior and three horizontal battens and a wooden latch on the interior. This room contains the chimney stack and four-light window with ovolo-moulded mullions. A second room is contained within a late 19th century studwork box. The roof is a late 18th or early 19th century collar rafter roof with principal rafters crossed at the apex.

The cottage is designated at Grade II for being a late 17th or early 18th century two-cell cottage, potentially with an earlier core, reflecting vernacular traditions. It also possesses a substantially intact interior featuring plank doors, a cambered door head, a staircase, an ovolo-moulded mullion window, and a fireplace.