The Cottages

The Cottages is a house that was later divided into three cottages. It dates from the mid to late 17th century and was subdivided and remodeled in the 19th century. The building is timber-framed with wattle and daub and brick infill, and the front wall is pebble-dashed. The gabled ends are made of 19th-century brick, which incorporates remains of the original framing. It has a double Roman tile roof and brick stacks. Originally, it had a three-room lobby-entry plan with two heated rooms on the right, and a stack was added to the left in the 19th century. The building is one and a half storeys tall, with a floored and partially used attic beneath a steep roofslope.

The entrance front features two 19th-century gabled dormers with two-light casements, above three three-light casements and two 19th-century plank doors. The rear has a 19th-century gable, with various openings in mostly exposed framing; part of the rear wall has been removed at the center, and the room has been extended under a slated lean-to roof.

Inside, there are mainly square-flamed partitions, with a lightweight framed transverse central partition at two levels. At the south end, the spine wall is made of brick. The center room has two deep stop-chamfered beams, and the small room to the left contains a 19th-century winder stair; the corresponding rear room has a straight-fight stair. The second entrance on the right leads to a small lobby and then to a small inner room with a 19th-century winder stair adjacent to the stack. The roof features exposed principals that are cut off above the collar, with chamfered purlins, and early rafters that are cut off above the lower purlin level. This building is included as a substantially complete example of a 17th-century timber-framed house in this region, although the 19th-century alterations have obscured the original plan form.