Yew Tree Cottage

Yew Tree Cottage

House with medieval origins, extensively altered in the 16th and 17th centuries, and renovated in the 20th century. The building is constructed of whitewashed stone rubble with a late 20th-century concrete tile roof, formerly thatched, with gables at each end. Three stone chimney stacks are present: one at each gable end and one on the ridge.

The building is a 2-bay open hall house, with the lower end separated from the through passage by a tall solid partition wall. The lower end may have been ceiled over before the hall itself was ceiled over in the 17th century, at which point a stack was inserted backing on to the through passage. The gable end stack serving the lower room was also inserted, probably in the late 17th century. The inner room has been entirely rebuilt at first floor level and re-roofed. A 20th-century roof was added above the original hall roof.

The building is 2 storeys tall. The front elevation has 5 windows with scattered fenestration. A 20th-century gabled porch leads into the through passage. Immediately to the right of the porch is a stone relieving arch marking the original through passage entrance, which is now blocked. The ground floor contains one 20th-century single-tier bow window. All other windows are 20th-century 1-, 2-, and 3-light casements with leaded panes under timber lintels, which probably preserve the original window embrasures. A rear doorway to the through passage is blocked.

Interior features of the medieval house include two massive unmoulded arch-braced smoke-blackened trusses with wind braces, truncated above the square-set purlins. The principals are raised crucks. An ogee-headed timber doorway from the passage to the lower end sits beneath a now-concealed relieving stone arch positioned above the level of the first floor. This doorway, and a similar blocked doorway at the rear of the through passage, are probably from the 15th century. Above the lower end, the two trusses are chamfered, with the chamfer continuing over the cambered collar. These trusses formerly had trenched purlins. They do not appear to be smoke-blackened, although timber treatment staining makes this difficult to determine. They may have originally roofed a solar over the lower end, or may predate the ceiling over of the lower end entirely.

The massive 17th-century hall fireplace has granite jambs. The left-hand jamb was altered to accommodate a brick bread oven, no longer extant, which formerly projected into the passage. The unmoulded timber lintel of the fireplace is unusual, projecting out as a rough corbel that supports an axial timber pad below the cross beam. The joists are chamfered with ogee stops. A timber newel stair to the left of the fireplace may be an early 18th-century replacement of the original stair, although the newel post appears to predate the steps. A Caernarvon arched doorway with scratch moulding leads from the hall into the inner room, which features a massive axial beam and exposed joists, mostly replaced.

The lower end room contains one probably 16th-century axial beam with a deep chamfer and run-out stops, and a mid to late 17th-century chamfered fireplace lintel with ogee stops and rebuilt jambs. The ceiling of the lower end room cuts across the ogee-head of the doorway into the through passage.

This is a high-status medieval open hall house, formerly part of the Sydenham Estate.