Cottage Approximately 2 Metres North-West Of Higher Lea Farmhouse

This is a disused cottage located approximately 2 metres north-west of Higher Lea Farmhouse. It dates to the late 16th to early 17th century, with alterations made in the mid-19th century. The walls are primarily cob on stone rubble footings, with a rebuilt front wall constructed of local stone and flint rubble with brick dressings. It has a disused stone rubble stack and a corrugated iron roof, with some remaining original thatch beneath.

Originally a 3-room and through-passage plan house, the cottage has now been reduced to a 1-room plan, facing south. An axial stack is situated in the right (east) end, with a doorway and a narrower stair located behind it, effectively forming a hall. The remaining portions of the original house were demolished in the mid-19th century when Higher Lea Farmhouse was constructed nearby. The cottage has always been two storeys high, and features secondary lean-to outshots on the left end and across the rear.

The front wall was rebuilt in the mid-19th century and contains one ground floor window and two first floor windows, all 19th-century casements, originally containing rectangular panes of leaded glass—most of which have been lost. The roof is half-hipped to the left side and gable-ended to the right. A doorway in the east end wall retains an original oak Tudor arch doorframe with a chamfered surround. There is also a rear wall stair window; a small, two-light oak window with a chamfered mullion.

Internally, original features remain. A winder stair is constructed of oak, and ground floor and first floor doorframes retain Tudor arch shapes with chamfered surrounds and step stops. The doors within these frames appear to be very old or possibly original. The large fireplace has limestone jambs and a chamfered oak lintel. The first-floor fireplace is also constructed of limestone ashlar, featuring a low Tudor-arch head. The first-floor crossbeam has deep chamfers with step stops. The roof is a two-bay structure carried on a clean side-pegged jointed cruck truss.

The cottage possesses a collection of late 16th to early 17th century features, though it is now somewhat dilapidated, with evidence of movement in the chimneystack.