Williams Cottage

Williams Cottage

Two numbers (1 and 2) formed from a single house, now divided. Built around 1500, remodelled in the early 17th century, and further altered, partly rebuilt and extended in the mid-20th century. The structure is rendered over coursed sandstone rubble and cob, with a gable-ended corrugated asbestos roof, probably formerly thatched. Corrugated asbestos covers the truncated left-hand gable end and a rebuilt lean-to outshut at the lower end. A coursed stone rubble stack stands to the front with chamfered offsets and late 19th-century brick; a brick former end stack appears to the right.

The original plan comprised a three-room layout with a cross-passage, facing south-east with ground falling to the left. The late-Medieval open-hall consisted of a through passage and lower end to the left, and a hall and inner room to the right. The hall was formerly open to the roof, probably continuously from end to end and divided by low partitions. Early 17th-century remodelling introduced the first floor, added a large external lateral stack to the front wall of the hall, and inserted a winder staircase in a rectangular well in the left-hand rear corner of the hall. An end stack was probably inserted in the inner room at the same period. It is possible the hall remained open to the roof after the upper and lower ends were floored. The partition at the lower end of the hall shows no smoke blackening on its lower (left-hand) side, though the upper (right-hand) side was not inspected at survey in July 1987. The present kitchen to the right of the staircase at the rear of the hall was possibly created in the 17th century or later. The service end was later converted to agricultural use, probably in the 19th century, but was brought back into domestic use in the mid-20th century when it was reduced to one storey. Until that time the front door to the left-hand house was off the cross passage. The house was divided, probably also in the 19th century, and the right-hand cottage was extended by one room to the right in the mid-20th century.

The building stands two storeys high, with the rebuilt left-hand end reduced to one storey. The asymmetrical front displays four first-floor windows and three ground-floor windows, all late 19th and mid-20th-century two- and three-light wooden casements. The rebuilt service end to the left has a pair of 20th-century two-light wooden casements. A 20th-century half-glazed cross-passage doorway off-centre to the left is approached by four stone steps. A half-glazed 20th-century door between the second and third windows from the right is sheltered by a 20th-century gabled porch.

Interior features include a 17th-century ceiling in the hall with two deep-chamfered cross beams and half beams with stepped run-out stops. A fireplace in the front wall has an old wooden lintel and a 19th-century overmantel. To the left of the fireplace stands a window with wider (older) jambs and a chamfered and stopped wooden lintel, contemporary with the ceiling frame. A 17th-century oak winder stair occupies the left-hand rear corner of the hall. An old boarded door at the foot of the stairs and an old pantry door, both with old strap hinges, survive.

The roofspace was only partly inspected at survey in 1987. Smoke-blackened late-Medieval roof timbers include two cruck trusses (probably jointed) with cambered collars and mortice-and-tenoned apices, one at the upper end of the hall and one over the hall in line with the left-hand side of the stack. A diagonally-set ridge-piece, unsupported at the lower end of the hall, suggests the medieval roof formerly extended over the service end of the house. Purlins were not fully visible at survey. Partitions extend into the roofspace at each end of the hall. The partition at the lower end of the hall shows no smoke blackening on its lower (left-hand) side (the right-hand side was not visible at survey), suggesting it is an insertion, as the old roof is blackened to either side of it. The partition at the upper end of the hall roof was not clearly visible at survey. A 20th-century truss stands at the lower end of the cross passage, with late 20th-century roof construction above the medieval roof.