Church Cottage, Middle Cottage And Lower Cottage

The cottages, Church Cottage, Middle Cottage, and Lower Cottage, likely originated in the late 16th or 17th century, with later alterations and extensions. They are constructed of rubble and cob, with some rendering, and have straw-thatched gabled roofs. The cottages were originally arranged as a long range of one room, three rooms, and then one room again, with the central section projecting forward. A through-passage way leads from the left-hand cottage to the churchyard of Church of St Mary, featuring a semi-circular head, rubble surround, an 18th-century ornamental iron gate with spear capping, and a pitched stone pavement. A brick stack with an oven is located on the gable end of the left-hand cottage, and another axial brick stack with an oven is in the central cottage. The cottages have two storeys and retain two-light 19th-century casement windows with glazing bars in the centre, while the ends have gable end brick stacks. Each cottage has a door opening, with a 20th-century door to the left-hand cottage set within a lean-to outshut on the front. The middle cottage features a thatched pent roof over its door, and the right-hand cottage has a slated pent roof. An 18th-century wrought-iron lamp bracket with scrolling and a lamp holder is affixed to the middle cottage. The rear elevation of the cottages faces the churchyard and has three small 19th-century casement windows, as well as a lean-to with a slate roof. The interior of the middle cottage includes a fireplace with a wooden bressumer, while the lower cottage’s first-floor level reveals an exposed truss of a jointed cruck. The remaining interiors were not inspected. The building is thought to possibly have once been a church house, although direct evidence is lacking. Above the through-passage way are two chamfered spine beams with run-out stops; the rear beam has later brackets on stone corbels.