Manor Cottage

Manor Cottage is a house, originally a church house, dating to the early to mid 16th century and restored in the early 20th century. The construction is primarily part-rendered stone rubble with a gable-ended thatched roof. It features a brick stack at the left gable-end, a projecting rubble stack at the right end, and a small stone lateral stack hidden behind the right-hand end. The building’s plan is currently three rooms and a cross-passage, although this may not reflect the original arrangement as the central room is small and unheated, with the largest room located at the left-hand end. The house has been two stories since its original construction. A rear lateral stack likely served a first-floor fireplace, which, following a typical church house design, would have heated a single large upper room.

During the early 20th-century restoration, the house was extensively refenestrated, with some new windows imitating the appearance of surviving originals. The front elevation is asymmetrical, with a five-window facade entirely of early 20th-century design. The first floor features a two-light chamfered wooden mullion window to the left, along with single-light casements. Ground floor windows are also two-light wooden mullions. A two-light moulded wooden mullion window, likely reused or contemporary with the others, is set within a lean-to against the left-hand end. A circa early 20th-century segmental arched, chamfered wooden doorframe with a plank door is situated to the right of centre.

The rear elevation retains one original two-light chamfered wooden mullion window with round arched heads on the first floor, positioned to the left of centre; a similar window to its right might be original. The window beyond this, and a similar ground floor window, are early 20th-century replica replacements. Modern square wooden lights are found on the ground floor to the left and right.

Inside, rebuilt plank and muntin screens flank the passage; the right-hand screen retains its original headbeam. The left-hand room contains an open fireplace with a high wooden lintel. The central room has substantial chamfered ceiling beams. The first-floor fireplace has a wooden lintel that has been partially altered. Surviving roof timbers include two original principal rafters with curved feet, threaded purlins and ridge, and originally morticed collars. The roof timbers show no signs of smoke-blackening.