Thatched Cottage

Thatched Cottage

This Grade II listed building is a one-and-one-half storey cottage of two-cell, two-bay plan, built in red brick with a thatched roof. The cottage dates from the 18th century or earlier, with significant extensions added to both gable ends and to the rear.

The front elevation is built in Flemish bond brick with a dentilled course at the eaves. It features a central plank-and-batten door flanked by small-paned casement windows, whilst the first-floor windows are set into the thatched roof itself. There are brick end chimneystacks. A timber lattice porch on a tall brick plinth, with a pitched roof of slate slabs, projects from the front.

The rear of the cottage has a single-storey mid-20th century extension built in lime silicate bricks with terracotta air bricks of unusual Gothic form, metal windows, and a catslide corrugated roof. The original rear door opens into this extension and thence into a brick and lap-board conservatory with a corrugated plastic catslide roof. At the gabled south-west elevation is a small weatherboard-clad extension with a thatched roof, and at the gabled north-east elevation is a timber plank extension with a corrugated asbestos flat roof. The brickwork at the north-east gable is in Flemish Garden Wall bond. The front and rear doors are early 19th century plank construction with 19th century door furniture; all windows are 20th century replacements.

The interior follows a two-cell plan with a fireplace on the gable-end wall of each room. The central entrance opens into the larger right-hand room, creating a small lobby at the partition between the rooms. A simple winder staircase, accessed from the right-hand room and resting on two bearers without string support, stands between the two rooms with timber panelling to either side. The larger room contains a deeply-chamfered 18th or early 19th century spine beam with run-out stops against the chimney. The main room has a brick inglenook fireplace with an early 19th century wooden fire surround comprising a lintel and mantelshelf. Original cupboard fitments flank the fireplace: the left one features a late 18th or early 19th century round end strap hinge and iron drop handle, whilst the right one is an arched china cabinet. Both this room and the adjacent smaller parlour have mid-19th century beaded ceiling board. The larger room also has a simple moulded cornice; the smaller parlour has a cross beam clad with ceiling board. The parlour retains an original 19th century wooden fire surround with mouldings.

The thatched-roofed extension to the south-west is a late 19th century timber-framed agricultural building of rustic appearance, subsequently converted into living accommodation. Each of its two bedrooms has a fireplace; one is boarded over and has a chimney breast with battered top, whilst the other has a simple mid-19th century wooden surround with mantelshelf. All internal doors are 19th century plank.

Outbuildings to the south-west of the cottage, constructed in waney-edged weatherboarding and timber with corrugated iron roofs, are of lesser interest.