Old Cottage

This is a group of three cottages, likely originally a single farmhouse, dating probably to the 16th or 17th century. Number 1 was enlarged and extended at the front during the early 19th century. Lean-to additions have been made at the rear. The construction is a mix of roughcast cob and stone, with thatched roofs, half-hipped at the left-hand end. Number 1 has a yellow brick chimneystack in its right-hand gable, while Number 2 features a larger rendered stack just behind the ridge, off-centre to the right. Number 3 has a smaller rendered stack with a 20th-century brick shaft on its ridge, also off-centre to the right. The original layout is uncertain, but the house originally comprised at least three ground-floor rooms.

The cottages are two storeys high, each with a single upper-storey window, though this does not indicate the full length of the building. Number 1 has a 20th-century glazed door and wooden canopy to the left, and a 19th-century casement window on each floor to the right. Number 2 has an old plank door, off-centre to the right, and one 19th-century casement window at the far left of each floor; the upper-storey window has been set into the thatch. Number 3 has an old plank door with wrought-iron strap-hinges at the right-hand end. A 19th-century casement window sits at the left-hand end of each floor, and a small 19th-century window is in the centre of the ground floor, with the upper-storey window also pushing up into the thatch. Most windows are 2-light casements with 6 panes to each light, though the two left-hand casements at Number 3 have an extra half-pane at the outer edge of each light, and the small window has a fixed 4-pane sash.

A late 16th or 17th-century wood-mullioned window of two lights with flat-splay mullions and rectangular leaded panes is in the back wall of Number 2 on the ground floor. The second storey of Number 2 has a 2-light wood-mullioned window in the late 18th or early 19th century style, with small panes.

Inside Number 2, the ground floor features a large gable fireplace with a chamfered wood lintel featuring straight-cut stops, and a chamfered upper-floor beam without stops. During inspection and repair work in 1985, it became apparent that the projecting front section of Number 1 was a later addition. The partition wall between Number 1 and Number 2 is thin, and there is no division at roof level. Heavy upper-floor joists run from front to back in Number 2. The left-hand second-storey room contains a side-pegged jointed-cruck truss, covered with plaster. There are some good 19th-century plank doors, one of which retains a wooden bolt. The interior of Number 3 was not inspected, but it is believed to contain a stud-and-panel screen in the ground floor, separating it from Number 2, and a large open fireplace with a bread oven.

The group of cottages represents the best-preserved building in Liverton, retaining its 19th-century character almost intact. Number 2 is also well-preserved inside, retaining many old plaster wall and ceiling surfaces.