Langford Down Cottage

Langford Down Cottage is a house dating to around the mid-17th century, or possibly earlier, with alterations made in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is constructed of colourwashed stone rubble and plastered cob under the eaves, and has a thatched roof with gabled ends. The west gable has slate coping and a grouted slate roof to the stair turret. The house has large stone gable end stacks with slate weathering to the short shafts.

Originally built with a two-room and through-passage plan, the lower end is to the left (west), and the higher end is built into a bank on a steeply sloping site. Both rooms were originally heated by gable end stacks. The larger lower left-hand room was the kitchen and has a stair turret on the rear left corner. The higher right-hand room was the parlour. The central through-passage front doorway has been blocked, and two new doorways have been inserted, giving direct access into both rooms, suggesting it may have been divided into two cottages at one point.

The front of the house has an asymmetrical three-window range. It features small 20th-century 2-light casement windows with glazing bars. The ground floor centre window has a hood mould and is located in the original front doorway of the through passage. Later doorways to the left and right of centre have glazed doors. The right-hand doorway has a thatched canopy. The rear north elevation is built into the bank at the left-hand end, where there are small 20th-century casements under the eaves. To the right is a large semi-circular stair turret with a grouted slate roof. To the left of the stair turret is a small 20th-century wooden outshut. There are no windows in either gable end.

Inside, the lower left-hand room has a renewed timber lintel over the fireplace, dressed slate jambs, and a stone oven with a clay lining under the staircase. A small niche is located high on the wall to the left of the fireplace. This room retains a chamfered cross-beam without stops, with the joints boarded over. The higher right-hand room has a renewed ceiling with later joists. Its fireplace has a cambered chamfered timber lintel with run-out stops. A stone newel staircase rises from the left-hand room. The first-floor rooms are largely unspoilt with old wall plaster and plank doors. The feet of straight principal rafters are visible, and there is one raised cruck truss over the lower end with a mortice for a threaded purlin. The roof space itself was not accessible when surveyed in 1988.