Nos 1 And 2 Week Cottages Including Adjoining Linhay To North-West

A pair of cottages originally forming a single farmhouse, dating from the early to mid-17th century and altered in the 19th or early 20th century. The building is listed Grade II* for group value.

The construction uses rendered cob and rubble walls beneath a gable-ended thatch roof. Brick stacks are present at the left-hand end and at the rear, while the right gable end has a rubble stack with a moulded cap and dripcourses.

The original plan consisted of three rooms with a through passage. The lower end to the left contained a probable integral small service wing. The lower and inner rooms were heated by a gable-end fireplace with newel stairs beside it leading to the inner room, while the hall was heated by a rear lateral stack (possibly original). A 17th-century outbuilding stands behind the inner room. In the later 17th century, a linhay was constructed extending behind the service wing. During the later 19th or early 20th century, the farmhouse was downgraded to cottages and divided at the lower end of the hall. The original front door to the passage was blocked, and a new door was inserted into the hall.

The exterior presents two storeys with an asymmetrical front of four windows. These comprise 2-light and 3-light 20th-century casements, except for the three right-hand first-floor windows. These are original 17th-century windows with ovolo-moulded wooden mullions: the left-hand example has two lights while the others have four lights with a central King mullion more richly moulded and timber hoodmoulds with labels. A 20th-century plank door stands to the right of centre, with a plank door at the lower section's left-hand end.

The rear elevation contains several features of interest. To the left of centre is a shallow stone projection serving the chimney stack but also incorporating the hall window. On the first floor to the right are two 17th-century windows with chamfered wooden mullions: the left-hand example is 2-light while the other has four narrow lights with leaded panes. A rear passage door is positioned to the right of centre. A single-storey outbuilding wing projects from the left-hand end with a chamfered wooden doorframe on its inner face. A two-storey wing projects from the right-hand end.

Extending from this is a 17th-century open-fronted linhay divided into five bays by chamfered wooden posts. It retains its original roof trusses consisting of substantial straight principals with trenched purlins and curved collars halved and dovetailed onto the trusses.

The interior has suffered little 20th-century modernisation. No. 1 to the right features ovolo-moulded axial beams in the hall. The inner room contains moulded axial beams with carved stops and a late 17th or early 18th-century bolection-moulded wooden fireplace, with wooden newel stairs beside the fireplace.

No. 2 to the left has a chamfered wooden doorframe with pyramid stops from the passage to the lower room. The lower room contains chamfered cross beams and a chamfered plank and muntin screen to the rear wing. The first floor contains five further original chamfered doorframes, one retaining a 17th-century plank door and another a 18th-century fielded two-panel door. There is no access to the roofspace, where the trusses are encased in plaster on the first floor. None are obviously crucks, but early roof timbers may still survive.

This house remains externally unaltered and preserves an unusual number of surviving wooden mullion windows with no additions later than the 17th century. Numerous good-quality carpentry features survive, whilst other features such as fireplaces and screens may remain concealed.