Rock Cottage

Rock Cottage is a house dating from around the mid-17th century, with renovations made in the 20th century. It features whitewashed rendered cob on stone footings and has an asbestos slate roof, which was thatched until at least 1960. The building has gabled ends and back-to-back fireplaces in an axial stack, with the left end stack having a truncated shaft.

The plan consists of a single depth layout that is three rooms wide, with a projecting porch and lobby entrance facing the axial stack between the two right-hand rooms, and a rear outshut. Both fireplaces in the axial stack include bread ovens, although it is unclear which served as the kitchen fireplace in the 17th century. The left-hand room has a smaller fireplace, likely from the 18th century, and was probably unheated originally. The house has been divided into cottages in the past; it was two dwellings in 1960 and is reputed to have been three dwellings previously, according to the owner.

The exterior is two storeys high with an asymmetrical three-to-one window front. There is a gabled two-storey porch to the right of centre, featuring a 20th-century front door on the left return and a second 20th-century door at the extreme left. The windows are mainly 20th-century timber casements, except for a small two-light small pane casement on the first floor right, which is probably from the 19th century. The right return of the porch has two small casements that are likely from the 19th century, while the right return of the house has a 20th-century ground floor bow.

Inside, the right-hand room has a 17th-century chamfered step-stopped axial beam and a partly-blocked fireplace that retains an original 17th-century chamfered lintel. This room also features a 17th-century open fireplace with a chamfered lintel and a bread oven with an iron door. The left-hand room has a smaller fireplace with a slender cambered lintel. The staircase rises behind the axial stack, and it is said that old oak treads survive beneath the present treads. Rock Cottage is situated on a prominent corner site in Ash Mill and has group value with the former forge and Ball Ham.