Manor Cottage

Manor Cottage is a house dating back to around the 15th century, with substantial alterations and remodelling occurring around the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and a further extension in the early 17th century. More recent alterations were made in the 20th century. The walls are of plastered cob, and the roof is thatched with half-hipped gable ends. The chimney stacks are of dressed granite, with weathering on the axial stack and rebuilt shafts on the gable-end stacks.

The house originally comprised a two-room plan with a wide through-passage at the centre, initially open to the roof and divided by low partitions. In the late 16th or early 17th century floors were inserted above the left [North] room, creating chambers, and a single-room wing with a chamber above was added to the rear of the left [North] room, also around the early 17th century.

The west front is asymmetrical, with a stair turret projecting on the right. It features a central through-passage doorway protected by a 20th-century thatched canopy, and casement windows with glazing bars to the left and right. The rear [East] elevation has small casement windows with glazing bars, and a gable-ended wing to the right with a small mullion window under the eaves on the North side.

Inside, the right-hand [South] room has a large cambered cross-beam with run-out stops, supported by what appear to be cruck posts. There is also a small gable-end fireplace with a chamfered timber bressumer with step stops, a shelf on brackets, and a cupboard with a panelled door to one side. A wide central passage runs through the house. The left-hand [North] room has a chamfered axial beam with cyma stops, and exposed slightly chamfered joists, along with a large granite fireplace with a replaced rough timber bressumer and an oven. A ground floor room in the rear wing has a ceiling. A winder staircase is also present. A chamber in the rear wing features a moulded plaster cornice over the fireplace, and a small moulded plaster shield displaying the initials “H over GM.”

The roof of the main range is a four-bay structure with side-pegged jointed cruck trusses with cambered collars; the centre south truss has mortices for arch braces, while the left [North] truss is a raised cruck within a partition. There are threaded side purlins and a square-set ridgepiece on yokes at the apex. Most of the common-rafters have been removed, but some remain over the south bay. The roof structure is heavily smoke-blackened.