Braeside Rose Cottage And Alms Cottage

BRAESIDE ROSE COTTAGE AND ALMS COTTAGE

This building, formerly listed as Rose Cottage, probably originated as the church house and was later used as almshouses, a sexton's house, and possibly once as the priest's house. It now functions as a cottage on the first floor with a store below.

Dating to probably the late 16th century or early 17th century with later alterations, the building is constructed of colourwashed stone rubble beneath a Welsh slate roof with gabled ends. The left hand (north) end has a hipped lean-to extension. The gable ends have rendered shafts and axial stacks, each stack topped with pots made from four vertically set slates.

The building has a rectangular plan with two ground floor rooms: a smaller unheated room to the left and a larger room to the right. The large room features a substantial right hand gable end fireplace with ovens. A thick masonry wall between the two rooms rises into the roof, with a later stack built against its right hand side providing a second fireplace for the larger room. A doorway connects the two rooms. An external doorway in the right hand gable end beside the stack enters the large room and may have been the original entrance. Two blocked doorways appear on the front: the right hand doorway represents an alternative original entrance, while the left hand doorway into the smaller room is probably a later insertion.

The first floor plan appears to mirror the ground floor arrangement, with entry into the small left hand room via a doorway in the left gable end where the ground level is higher. Ground level at the rear is also at first floor level and may have originally provided external access to the large right hand room. The front faces the churchyard, which sits at ground floor level. The first floor has been divided to provide dwelling accommodation, with 19th and 20th century lean-tos on the left end wall.

The exterior presents two storeys. The asymmetrical three-quarter window west front facing the churchyard has three 20th century casements on the first floor disposed towards the left, with a blocked window to the right. Four irregularly spaced windows appear on the ground floor, the left hand one featuring a chamfered timber lintel. The rear (east) wall exhibits irregular masonry above the high ground level, without windows, though blocked openings may exist. The south end has a slate hung gable, two 20th century first floor casements, and ground floor cantilevers. The north end features a circa 19th century lean-to and a 20th century porch in the angle.

Inside, the ground floor large right hand room contains a large gable end fireplace with a timber lintel whose chamfer or moulding is worn off, and two bread ovens, at least one of stone construction. At the opposite end of the large room, a later fireplace (now blocked) has a heavily cambered chamfered lintel. The larger right hand room retains some chamfered waney cross-beams, though most have been replaced. The smaller unheated left hand room has one chamfered cross beam with step stops.

The first floor left end room is unpartitioned, while the right hand end has later partitions inserted.

The roof space is inaccessible, but the feet of the principal rafters are straight, suggesting the roof structure may have been replaced.