Ivy Cottage

Ivy Cottage is an 18th-century cottage incorporating elements of what may have been a 17th-century timber-framed longhouse. The cottage is constructed of dressed, coursed sandstone with timber lintels, and has a pantile roof and a brick stack. Modern extensions to the rear match the detailing of the original building, but use stone lintels.

The original cottage has a two-room plan, arranged as a single pile, with a cross passage leading to the left gable. The principal room and parlour share a central stack. It appears the 18th-century cottage originally lacked a separate service room.

The front of the cottage features a plank door to the left and two evenly spaced windows on each floor. Each window is a two-light horizontal sliding sash with six small panes per light. A central ridge stack is also present. The left gable shows a prominent scar line indicating a lower-roofed building, possibly a byre of an earlier longhouse, now replaced by a neighbouring property’s garage. A two-light Yorkshire sash window with two panes illuminates the attic space behind this scar line. The rear of the cottage is completely enclosed by the late 20th-century extension and is unplastered. The right gable abuts the neighbouring property.

Inside, the gable wall in the cross passage reveals fragments of timber framing, including an edge halved scarf joint. The ground floor has exposed ceiling joists and broad floorboards, both considered original. The staircase, reconstructed in 2016, replicates the original design with timber boarding and is arranged to suit the first-floor rooms. A late 20th-century kitchen range has been inserted into the principal room, but a large cupboard within the chimney breast is thought to be original, with 18th-century strap hinges. The internal plank and ledged doors have planks of varying widths and are hung on 18th-century style strap hinges, though some hinges are modern reproductions and the doors have been re-hung. The roof structure is original, with only minimal modern replacement timber; the timber is largely unsquared. It features double purlins, tusked and pegged to principal rafters tied with a collar, secured with large handmade iron bolts.