Christie Cottage

Christie Cottage

Small house of late 16th or 17th century origins, located on the south side of Six Mile Hill at Tedburn St Mary. The building retains significant historical features despite later alterations and a late 20th century addition and refenestration.

Structure and Materials The cottage is built of whitewashed rendered cob with a wheat straw thatched roof, gabled at the ends. It has projecting end stacks with brick chimney shafts, and measures 2 storeys in height.

Plan and Layout The present plan comprises a single-depth main range with heated rooms on either side of a central passage containing a stair. Rounded rear projections extend from each room, probably formerly containing newel stairs. The late 16th century plan likely consisted of 2 or 3 rooms and a cross passage, with the hall positioned to the right, a service room at the lower end to the left, and possibly an inner room adjoining the hall at the right end.

Structural History The position of the original hall stack remains uncertain. The present right gable end stack appears to be an 18th century insertion, cutting through a late 16th or 17th century half-beam against the right gable end wall. The hall may originally have been heated from a front lateral stack. Disturbance to the front and rear walls indicates the lower end was rebuilt, probably in the late 17th century. In the 1940s, a straight stair was inserted in the passage, coeval with the blocking of the stair turrets. An extension has been added at right angles to the main range abutting the lower end, forming an L-plan. The house has been refenestrated with metal frame casements.

Exterior The approximately symmetrical 3-window front features eaves thatch eyebrowed over the first floor windows. A 20th century thatched porch fronts the door into the passage, with a 20th century metal frame glazed door to the right of the porch giving direct entry into the right-hand room. Fenestration consists of 20th century metal frame casements in altered embrasures. The rear elevation, directly overlooking Six Mile Hill, is particularly attractive. Rounded projections to left and right feature thatch carried down as catslide roofs. One central first floor 20th century window lights the rear, alongside one small blocked ground floor rear window, probably 17th century, with a timber lintel.

Interior Several features of architectural interest survive. The hall to the right contains one chamfered cross beam and part of a deeply chamfered half-beam with step stops truncated by the chimney stack. The fireplace has a plain timber lintel and has been partly rebuilt in brick. An oak plank and muntin screen with chamfered muntins stopped at hall bench level forms the partition wall between hall and passage; part of the screen has been cut to form a hatch but the structure remains intact. A thick cob wall separates the passage from the lower end room. The lower end room (left) has a cross beam with narrow chamfer and step stops, and a 20th century grate to the stack. Circa late 17th or 18th century joinery survives on the first floor, including plank doors with strap hinges. One circa 17th century roof truss (closed) survives over the right-hand room with mortised apex and coeval rafters and ridge intact.

An old photograph in the possession of the owner shows the front elevation with casement windows. The cottage is notable for its good interior features and its prominent rear elevation to Six Mile Hill.