Church Cottage Lychgate

A pair of cottages, likely dating from the 17th century or possibly earlier, with extensions and divisions occurring around the mid-19th century. The main range, known as Lychgate, is built of rendered stone rubble with an asbestos slate roof and red clay ridge tiles. Church Cottage, the rear wing, is of local stone rubble with a slate gable-ended roof and a large corner stack.

The main range originally comprised two rooms, with a projecting front stack serving one room and a rear stack serving the other. A stair turret probably projected to the back and to the left of the rear stack. Internal partitions have been removed, creating a large room with a smaller room at the right end and a staircase to the left. Around the mid-19th century, a single-room wing was added to the rear right end, likely as a separate cottage. A small single-storey wing was added to the front of the right end of the main range around 1965.

The front of Lychgate has an asymmetrical four-window facade with 19th and 20th-century casement windows. First-floor windows on the left are 2-light casements with glazing bars, with a smaller 2-light casement to the left and a projecting single-storey wing to the right. The north elevation has no doorway. The rear, south, elevation features a stair turret projection to the right, a large central stack, and a 19th-century 2-light casement with glazing bars. The rear wing’s east face has 19th-century 2-light casements with glazing bars on the first floor and 20th-century windows on the ground floor. The west face of the wing has an asymmetrical three-window facade with 19th-century 2-light casements with glazing bars and a plank door. The south gable of the wing has two circular 19th-century casements on the first floor and a corner stack.

Inside Lychgate, internal partitions have been removed, and fireplaces have been blocked with 20th-century brick chimneypieces. The former stair turret is now blocked. A 19th-century winder stair is located in the front left corner. The interior includes closely-spaced 19th-century ceiling joists. The principal rafters are not exposed, and the roof space was not inspected. The interior of Church Cottage was not inspected.