Stream Cottage

MATERIALS: timber-framed, ground-floor brick in Flemish bond except for the south-east end which is in English garden wall bond. Hipped tiled roof (originally thatched) with small end gablets and brick chimneystacks.

PLAN: two-storey lobby entry house of three bays with narrower central chimney bay with axial chimneystack. The ground floor comprised a heated hall-kitchen on the north-west side and service room (possibly originally divided) to the south-west side, including stair access up to two unheated chambers on the first floor.

EXTERIOR: the north-west or entrance front retains two later C19 tripartite windows to the first floor and two mid-C20 metal casement windows to the ground floor. Central doorcase with mid-C20 door. The south-west end has a C19 horizontal sliding window on the first floor and a mid-C20 metal-framed casement window on the ground floor, adjoining a C19 external brick chimneystack in stretcher bond. The south-east side has three casement windows to the first floor. The ground floor has cement rendering but a principal post is visible and the central doorcase has a concrete porch. The north-west end has no windows.

INTERIOR: the north-east ground-floor room has an open fireplace with a wooden bressumer which contains a blocked bread oven, a spine beam with two-inch chamfers and lamb tongue stops and similar floor joists with one-inch chamfers. The south-west ground-floor room has a similar spine beam but un-chamfered floor joists. Some wide floor boards are visible above these. There is a wooden early C19 fire surround with a narrow shelf on brackets. A C19 straight flight staircase in this room, approached through a ledged plank door, leads to the upper floor. On the first floor the wall frame retains its jowled bay posts and a mid-rail is visible on the north-east side. The north-east room has tie beams and queenposts and a cupboard with a ledged plank door of late C17 or early C18 date over the lobby. There are wide original floor boards. The south-west room has angled queen struts. The roof structure has pegged rafters and clasped side purlins with windbraces. Lash marks on some of the rafters suggest an original thatched roof covering.