Briarcroft Clifton Cottage

Briarcroft and Clifton Cottage are a pair of cottages, originally a single house, dating to around the late 17th century, with later additions. The walls are granite rubble, rendered and built up with cob under the eaves. There is a rendered granite gable end stack to the left, and a brick-rendered stack to the right gable and wing. The roof is thatched with gable ends, and slate to the rear outshut. The original layout is obscured by the later division into two cottages, suggestive of either a through-passage or a central entrance hall, with probably two main heated rooms on the ground floor. A wing at the rear was likely added in the late 18th or early 19th century, with a 20th-century single-storey extension beyond. A small wing at the rear of the left end accommodated the staircase. A 19th-century outshut connects the two wings. The front has an asymmetrical arrangement of four windows, with 1-, 2-, and 3-light 20th-century casements. Late 20th-century leaded panes are present on the ground and first floors to the right. A 20th-century wooden lean-to porch covers the door to the left of centre, which features a stable-type door. It appears a window originally occupied the position of the door immediately to the right of the porch. The rear left-hand wing has two late 20th-century casement windows on both ground and first floors. The outshut has a 20th-century glazed door to the left and a plank door to the right. A small 20th-century casement window at an intermediate height is set in what was probably an original opening in the right-hand wing. The roof above it slopes in a catslide fashion from the main house. The interior of Clifton Cottage reveals a large gable end fireplace with a 20th-century replacement lintel and evidence of a former oven opening. The roof structure comprises straight principals with collars slightly set in trusses, secured with pegs. These cottages retain a traditional appearance both at the front and rear.