Heath Cottage

Heath Cottage is a house dating to around the mid-17th century. It is constructed of whitewashed cob and stone rubble, with a thatched roof that is gabled at the ends, and has end chimneys. The plan is unusual, being a variation on the two-room and through-passage arrangement; it comprises a large kitchen/hall to the right, with a staircase projecting from the rear, and a smaller, heated parlour to the left of the passage. An outshut is located at the rear of the parlour, with access from the passage via a small lobby also giving access to a small service room adjacent to the passage, which has been taken into the parlour. It is unclear whether the outshut is integral with the main block.

The house has been reoriented, and the present entrance elevation is the former rear elevation. The asymmetrical two-window entrance elevation has the thatch carried down as a catslide over the parlour outshut to the right, and swept across the door to the passage to form a porch. The front door leads to the passage and is within a square-headed, chamfered frame situated between the outshut and a shallow rectangular projection containing the kitchen/hall staircase. A projecting curing chamber, unusual for the area, is located to the left, with a low arched opening at the base on the left return, a blocked opening to the stack, and a modern window on the front. The ground floor has a single two-light timber casement with glazing bars to the hall/kitchen, while the first floor has a stair window with a square, chamfered frame. The left return has a small, chamfered mullioned two-light window on the first floor. The rear elevation, originally the front, displays four windows, along with a plank door leading to the passage. Two bee holes flank the ground floor window on the left.

Inside, the passage/parlour partition is made partly of wide horizontal planks with 18th-century graffiti. The hall/kitchen features chamfered stopped crossbeams, an open fireplace with granite jambs, a roughly chamfered lintel, and a 19th-century brick-lined bread oven. An 18th-century plank door leads to the staircase, which has granite treads. The parlour includes an open fireplace with an ovolo-moulded timber lintel and two chamfered 17th-century first-floor doorframes, one stopped. The roof rafters, visible upstairs, appear to be straight. The house is an attractive, traditional building with an unusual plan.