Eastdown Cottage

Eastdown Cottage is a house likely dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, with later alterations in the 19th century. It is constructed of stuccoed stone rubble with a cob slate roof, gabled at the right-hand end and hipped at the left. There are three original axial stacks and one gable end stack; a large central axial stack and a tapered right-hand gable end stack with stone weathering.

The house originally comprised three rooms, with the lower end to the left. All three rooms were heated from stacks on the right side, with axial stacks to the left-hand and centre rooms, and a gable end stack to the right-hand room. The presence of doorways on opposite sides may indicate a through passage on the left side of the centre room. The lower left room is deeper in plan than the centre room, which is deeper than the right-hand room. A newel staircase is located in the front right-hand corner of the right room, and the left-hand stack has an attached oven. Evidence suggests the eaves of the centre range have been raised. The building was formerly divided into three cottages but was originally a three-room plan house, which was later extended to form a two-room plan dwelling.

The exterior has two storeys and an asymmetrical 4/5 window range with 20th-century 2 and 3-light casements and a small 1-light stair window to the right. A doorway to the left of the centre is topped by a circa 19th-century (altered in the 20th century) stone rubble porch with a lean-to slate roof and a 20th-century plank door. At the rear, the right-hand (lower) end projects, and the left-hand end is set back slightly. The centre eaves also appear to have been raised. The rear features 20th-century casements, and two small single-storey outshuts, one from the 19th century and the other from the 20th century.

The ground floor of the left-hand room contains closely spaced chamfered waney axial beams and a blocked fireplace with a stopped chamfered timber lintel at one end on corbel. The centre room has later exposed joists, no main beam, and a fireplace with a partly concealed timber lintel. A 20th-century staircase is located at the back of this room. The right-hand room exhibits closely spaced chamfered cross-beams of light scantling and a stone rubble fireplace, likely reduced in size. A stone newel staircase is located to the right of the fireplace. The right-hand bed-chamber has a blocked fireplace with a timber lintel, and the left-hand bed-chamber has a blocked fireplace with a plastered-over cambered lintel on corbel at one end. The inspected lower-end section of the roof comprises a 19th-century king post truss. The feet of straight principals are exposed in the centre and right bed-chambers.