Orchard Cottage

Orchard Cottage, likely dating to the early 17th century or earlier, was originally three cottages and later reunited into a single house, with alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. The construction is stone rubble with possible cob, plastered to the front, and partly slate hung at the rear. The roof is thatched, with a hipped left-hand end; the right-hand end has been raised and covered with asbestos slate. There are three stacks: a stone rubble stack at the left-hand end with an extended brick shaft, a stone rubble rear lateral stack with a tall tapered shaft and slate weathering, and a large rendered stack at the right-hand end incorporated into an adjoining house. The original plan was probably a three-room and through-passage layout, with heating from a gable-end stack in the lower right-hand (west) end, a lateral stack at the rear for the hall, and an end stack for the left-hand inner room. A circa 18th or early 19th century, single-storey outshut is located at the rear of the left-hand end. In the 19th century, it was divided into three cottages, and the lower right-hand end was remodelled and its eaves raised, likely when the adjoining cottage, No 4 (Spring Cottage), was built. In the 20th century, the cottages were reunited, and the ground floor of the lower right-hand end was converted into a garage. The front facade presents an asymmetrical three-window range. The left and centre portions under the thatched roof have 19th-century two- and three-light casement windows, some with glazing bars, and two 19th-century glazed panelled doors with 20th-century canopies. The lower right-hand end has higher eaves, a 20th-century first-floor casement, and a 20th-century garage door below. A small first-floor window is present to the left of the left-hand stack, set in a slate surround. The rear elevation is slate hung to the left, features a large lateral stack at the centre, and has a stone rubble single-storey outshut with a rounded corner and a slate lean-to roof to the right. The fireplace associated with the hall’s lateral stack likely has a timber lintel. Original carpentry is expected to survive, and there may be an early roof structure. The interior is inaccessible.