Steps Cottage

Steps Cottage is a house that has been extended and converted into three cottages before being reverted back to a single dwelling. It likely dates from the late 17th century or early 18th century, with possible earlier origins. The building was extended and converted into cottages around the early to mid-19th century and was reunited and further extended in the 20th century. The structure is made of rendered cob and stone rubble, topped with a thatched roof featuring gabled ends. There are rendered chimney stacks at the gable end of the original house, with the left-hand stack now functioning as an axial stack.

The layout consists of a three-room single depth plan, with the two right-hand rooms likely representing the original house. In the early to mid-19th century, the house was transformed into a row of three one-room plan cottages by adding a one-room plan extension to the left end. In the 20th century, it was restored to a single house, with a small extension added at the left end.

The exterior has two storeys and features an asymmetrical arrangement of windows. There is an 18th or early 19th-century wooden casement window on the first floor to the left. Flanking the center are late 19th or 20th-century glazed doors, each with late 19th or 20th-century wooden lattice porches. The left end has a one-room plan addition made of stone rubble with a grouted scantle slate roof, which is one storey with an attic. This addition includes a late 19th-century two-light casement window with glazing bars, a gabled dormer with a timber casement, and a 20th-century glazed door. There is also a small late 20th-century addition at the extreme left end.

Inside, the interior has been significantly altered, but some 19th-century joinery remains. The straight feet of the roof principals are visible on the first floor. Most of the trusses are made of softwood, but one truss at the left end features much heavier oak principals. At the right end, there are reportedly blackened roof timbers associated with the curing of fish. Steps Cottage is located on the site of a salting operation that was recorded in the Domesday Book.