Beckside Cottage And Ropley

A pair of cottages dating from the early to mid-19th century, with Beckside Cottage renovated around 1980. The cottages are constructed of colour-washed local stone and flint rubble, with a stone rubble stack topped with 19th-century brick and a thatched roof. Originally built as a pair alongside the lane, facing south-east, they initially mirrored each other in layout. Each cottage comprised a two-room plan, with unheated outer rooms and a larger inner room heated by a party wall stack serving back-to-back fireplaces. Beckside Cottage occupies the left (south-west) side, and Ropley the right. Ropley appears to retain its original character with superficial modernisation, but Beckside Cottage underwent refurbishment around 1980. During this process, its front doorway was blocked and a new doorway inserted in the left-end wall, along with the addition of a single-storey extension at a right angle to the rear. Both cottages are two storeys high. The exterior features an irregular three-window front with 19th and 20th-century casement windows, some of which have been blocked. Ropley's right two-window section retains the original layout, centering on a doorway with a late 19th or early 20th-century plank door and a contemporary thatched hood. Beckside Cottage features a small 20th-century bay window where a doorway was previously situated. The roof is hipped to the left and half-hipped to the right. The interior was not inspected, but some plain carpentry detail was noted. The pair of cottages contribute to a group of attractive thatched-roofed buildings.