Ye Olde Cottage Inne

Ye Olde Cottage Inne

Inn, now public house. Built in the early 19th century with 20th-century additions and modifications. The structure is rendered with some slate-hanging and a slate roof. The main range faces the old road and backs onto the river, with a near-symmetrical composition broken by a pavilion projecting forward at the left (north). The rear, extensively damaged in the 1952 flood, includes a steel structure and an additional storey at the lower level due to the steep slope across the site.

The building comprises 2 storeys with an attic and basement, arranged as a 1+4-window range. The windows throughout are 2-light cast-iron casements with a mullion and diamond panes, set in 4-centred heads with drip-courses to corbel stops. The left pavilion features a central gable containing a lancet window above a wide opening with a 4-centred head and 4-light casement with cast-iron detail and a panel below, likely replacing a former carriage opening. The return to the right has a 2-light casement.

The principal range displays 2 small gabled dormers with 2-light casements positioned high on the roof slope, and a wide open central gable over a 2-light window. At first-floor level the fenestration reads 1:1:2 with two-light casements above two 2-light windows, the third window being modified as a door. Beneath the central gable is a wide 4-centred opening containing a pair of panelled doors with side panels and overlights with diamond panes. Square pilasters rise at the ends and to the centre unit, which projects slightly and sits beneath continuous eaves moulding and a deep projecting soffit. Decorative scalloped barge-boards trim the gables and dormers. The drip-course to the gable window runs around and down to the cill, beneath which sits an elliptical name-board with moulded edge. Each gable contains a slate-hung stack with a slate-covered capping.

To the right of the main range stands a painted rubble screen wall, stepped at its outer end, with a wide 4-centred opening over a window and door. The right gable is slate-hung with a scalloped barge-board and has a glazed porch or conservatory at first-floor level giving onto a flat-roofed extension carried on steel stanchions over an open service area. The left return includes a keyhole-shaped light with an opening diagonally set casement above a broad 4-centred opening with double doors and a small light; to the left, a flat-roofed section contains three 2-light casements as on the main front but without drip-courses. The river front features a wide flat-roofed dormer with 4 windows on the rear slope of the main range, and extensive flat-roofed additions with large multi-pane steel casements at two levels above a partly open basement area.

The interior, partly inspected, has undergone considerable modification. At basement level are some thick rubble walls and an arched opening with early plank doors, possibly remnants of an earlier building on the site. In one area a ship's mast serves as a spine beam. Due to a slight realignment of the road and consequent raising of its level, the building lies below the modern road surface, with its upper floor only visible.

The front elevation remains a good example of the Picturesque cottage ornée style, with diamond-paned cast-iron windows characteristic of the area in the early 19th century. The windows are reputedly taken from the original Combe Park Hotel.