Crossways Cottage

Crossways Cottage is a house, originally two cottages, dating from the early and mid-19th century. It is constructed of plastered cob on rubble footings, with a brick stack topped with 19th and 20th century brick and a red interlocking tile roof (previously thatched until 1901). Initially, the cottages were arranged with two rooms each, facing east, and shared a central axial stack serving back-to-back fireplaces. The cottage on the right (north) is older than the one on the left. Each cottage has small outshots against the end walls, and there is a further outshot at the rear of the left-hand cottage. The two cottages were combined into a single dwelling in the 20th century. The front of the house has an overall appearance of four windows, with each original cottage presenting a symmetrical two-window arrangement. Most of the windows are mid- to late 19th century 2-light casements with nine panes each, with the exception of a 20th century replacement window on the ground floor right end. The left door is 19th century, while the right door is a 20th-century addition, set behind a contemporary gabled and tile-roofed porch. The roof is gable-ended, and the central chimney shaft shows a straight join indicating the two phases of construction. Inside, the carpentry is plain. A notable feature is the plain soffit-chamfered crossbeam in the right-hand heated room. The roof structure consists of A-frame trusses nailed together, with the trusses in the left-hand room being clearly later than those in the right-hand room. Crossways Cottage is an attractive building, situated prominently at the crossroads in the village, and is noteworthy for retaining its 19th-century windows.