Mote Cottage

Mote Cottage is a cottage, likely originally a farmhouse, dating to the early to mid 16th century. It was altered in the 17th century, probably partially reconstructed in the 18th century, and modernised in the 20th century. The house is constructed of rendered rubble walls with a half-hipped thatched roof. It has two rendered rubble lateral stacks, one at the front and one at the rear, each with dripcourses.

Originally, the cottage probably had a three-room layout with a through-passage, a central hearth, and an open roof over the hall and lower end. Around the early 17th century, it was ceiled, and a lateral stack was added to the front of the lower room. The differing roof structure over the inner room and lack of early features at that end suggests a substantial 18th-century reconstruction, though it is also possible that the house was originally a two-room plan extended at that time. The current layout consists of three main rooms, with the lower and inner rooms heated by lateral stacks. Unusually, the central room – the former hall – has no fireplace. An 18th-century lean-to outbuilding, with external access, was added to the front of the right-hand end of the house.

The front elevation has an asymmetrical two-window appearance, with three windows on the ground floor. Most windows are 20th-century, two-light casements with glazing bars. A single window to the right and far right on the ground floor; the ground floor left-hand window lacks glazing bars. A 20th-century plank door is located towards the left-hand end, sheltered by a slate porch hood. A thatched lean-to outbuilding projects to the right of the stack which is towards the right-hand end.

Inside, a complete two-bay smoke-blackened roof survives over the lower room passage and part of the hall, featuring a pair of principal rafters which may originally have been jointed crucks, resting on a template at the front. It also includes a threaded purlin, morticed apex with diagonal ridge, with a removed morticed collar. Evidence of stave holes on the soffits of the principal rafters suggests the truss was originally closed, but smoke blackening shows it was never fully enclosed. The inner room roof has later substantial principal rafters with lapped and pegged collars. In the lower room, the fireplace has a chamfered wood lintel with run-out stops, and the cross beams are similarly decorated. The fireplace in the inner room was reconstructed in the 20th century. A photograph from the turn of the century shows the original door position was to the left of the front lateral stack.