Keys Cottage the Cottage

Keys Cottage, also known as The Cottage, is a house located on the north side of East Street in North Molton. It dates from the mid-17th century and was remodeled in the mid to late 19th century. The building is rendered, likely over stone and cob, and features a gable-ended roof covered with 20th-century asbestos slate. There are rendered stacks on the roof.

The house has a two-room plan with a central entrance that leads to a passage. Each room has an external lateral stack at the rear, and there is probably a later integral end stack on the left side. A short later wing extends from the rear of the left-hand room, while a larger wing extends from the rear of the right-hand room. The house was likely divided at some point, possibly in the 19th century but more probably in the 20th century.

It is two storeys tall with a slightly asymmetrical four-window front. The first floor features 19th-century two-light wooden casements, while the ground floor has 19th-century four-pane sash windows. The entrance is roughly central, with a segmental-arched design. To the right is a 20th-century half-glazed passage door, and to the left is a 20th-century half-glazed door leading to the left-hand cottage. There is also a 20th-century boarded door, likely inserted to the right of the right-hand ground-floor window.

Inside, the left-hand ground-floor room has a 17th-century chamfered cross beam with stepped run-out stops, which has been adzed to accommodate later plaster that has since been removed. There is a fireplace at the rear with an old wooden lintel. The left-hand first-floor rooms retain old floorboards. The roof space has not been inspected, but the trusses appear to be from the 17th century. The interior of the right-hand cottage has not been inspected.