Strongs Cottage

Strongs Cottage is a house with origins dating back to the early 16th century, significantly remodelled in the 17th century and with later alterations in the late 20th century. The walls are whitewashed cob, topped with a thatched roof that is hipped at the left end and gabled at the right. There are three brick stacks: one at the left end, one axial, and a third lateral to the rear right.

Originally an open-hall house, it was remodelled in the early 17th century into a three-room plan with a through passage, the lower end being to the right. A dog-leg stone stair was added to the passage in the late 20th century.

The front has an asymmetrical three-window facade, with the thatch eaves forming an eyebrow over the first-floor windows. A 20th-century door is located to the left of centre, while a former doorway to the passage, now a window, sits to the right. The windows are also 20th century, including metal-framed ones set in enlarged embrasures. The rear elevation is largely blind, except for a single first-floor, two-light casement, and a gabled 20th-century porch to the rear of the passage. On the left return wall, three granite corbels of unknown function project about one metre from the ground.

The interior retains good examples of 16th and 17th century carpentry and joinery. The granite ashlar back of the hall fireplace remains visible in the passage, along with an oak plank and muntin screen and doorframe with a chamfered segmental arched lintel. The passage features exposed chamfered stopped joists, some truncated for the insertion of the 20th-century stair. An oak plank and muntin screen separates the passage from the lower end room, also with a doorframe with a chamfered segmental arched lintel. The hall has an open fireplace with granite jambs and lintel, a 19th-century brick-lined bread oven, and a muntin screen at the higher end with chamfered muntins. A shouldered doorframe is present in the screen leading to the inner room. The narrow inner room has a blocked fireplace and a screen plastered over on the inner side. The lower end room has a chamfered crossbeam and an open fireplace with a replaced lintel. The roof comprises side-pegged jointed cruck trusses with a diagonally-set ridge. The roof is thoroughly smoke-blackened throughout, with sooted rafters, battens, and thatch.

The house is an evolved structure with medieval origins and has group value with Wells and Pale Farmhouse.