Chants Cottage

Chants Cottage is a cottage dating from approximately the late 17th or early 18th century, with later extensions from the late 18th or early 19th century. The walls are whitewashed rendered cob, with the right end wall rebuilt in stone rubble; the roof is thatched and hipped at the ends, featuring a brick chimney stack at the left end and a rear right brick chimney shaft serving a heating outshut.

Originally a single-cell cottage, it likely consisted of two rooms, with the left-hand room later added as a kitchen and the original room being used as a parlour. A cross passage was created within the right-hand room, and the right end wall and stack were later rebuilt in stone rubble, rendering the original section an unheated service room. A dog-leg staircase was inserted at the rear of the passage, and the rear right outshut was added around the late 19th century. A partition wall within the passage was removed in the 20th century, and a section of the wall between the rooms was partly removed at first floor level, with the apex of the wall supported on an inserted beam.

The front facade is almost symmetrical, with three windows on each floor. A late 20th-century porch with a lean-to roof is centered, and the windows are 2- and 3-light iron casements with diamond-leaded panes.

A remarkable feature within is an exceptionally late jointed cruck truss over the right-hand end. This is characterized by rough carpentry, with the principal visibly nailed to the joint and a halved, pegged X apex. The use of nails suggests a possible construction date as late as the late 18th century. The feet of the truss do not extend below first floor level. The roof space reveals the original cob wall and hipped roof of the earlier section. The ground floor has two cross beams; the right-hand ground floor room has an open fireplace with a segmental brick lintel and brick-faced jambs, although the former bread oven is no longer present. The first floor contains some late 18th-century plank doors with decorative strap hinges.