Hope Cottage And Fern Cottage

Hope Cottage and Fern Cottage are two dwellings that date from the late 16th century, with later alterations and extensions. The buildings are constructed of plastered cob on stone footings and feature a gabled-end slate roof. Originally, they were designed as a three-room, through-passage plan house, but have been significantly altered internally. There are two later 19th-century rear wings, with the higher end located to the left of the passage. An external rear lateral stack heats the hall, while two additional stacks heat the inner room, which is now subdivided as Fern Cottage. One of these stacks is a rear lateral stack, and the other is an internal end stack on the left. The right-hand end stack heats the service end, and all stacks have brick shafts.

The buildings are two storeys high and feature a six-window range on the front. Fern Cottage has three 2-pane horned sash windows on the first floor, with a 12-pane hornless sash window on either side of a glazed door that is sheltered by a canopy on shaped brackets. Hope Cottage has casement windows on the first floor, a 12-pane hornless sash window to the left of a latticed, gabled porch, and a 2-light casement window to the right. Iron lion masks are attached to the gutter along the entire front.

The rear of both dwellings includes later additions, such as an early 18th-century (or earlier) rear wing at the service end of Hope Cottage, which is timber framed with brick nogging and has 19th-century casement windows. The rear wing of Fern Cottage is a late 19th-century addition and has a separate gable.

Inside, there is a jointed cruck roof over the hall and service end, featuring three trusses with morticed and pegged apex carpentry. The roof of the inner room is later, likely from the 17th or 18th century. Only the cruck above the party wall is visible from the roof space of Fern Cottage, and it is in good condition. The roof space of Hope Cottage is ceiled, but the lower members of the hall crucks are visible and have stop-chamfered profiles. The service end has two stop-chamfered ceiling beams with hollow step stops. There are also two early 18th-century panelled doors, while Fern Cottage features a chamfered, unstopped ceiling beam in the inner room and two early 18th-century fielded panel doors.