Stone Close Cafe And Adjoining Barn To West

A pair of cottages, now a cafe with living space above, and an adjoining barn, were likely built in the late 17th and early to mid 18th centuries. The building is constructed of roughly coursed rubble stone, with quoins, and has a stone slate roof. It extends east to west, facing south, with the left cottage being single-depth and one unit wide, plus a rear extension; the right-hand cottage is double-depth.

The cottages are two stories high, with three-story proportions, and each has two windows. The door openings are square-headed and almost join in the center of the range, with the right doorway taller. The left cottage has a rectangular window on the ground floor with a 20th-century small-paned top-hung casement, and two square windows on the first floor, now top-hung casements imitating six-pane sashes. The right-hand cottage has a large square shop window on the ground floor with glazing bars, and two rectangular windows above, both now top-hung casements imitating twelve-pane sashes. A large square chimney sits on the ridge where the cottage joins the barn, possibly corbelled or extruded, featuring a stone slate band and a flat stone slate cap. There is also a gable chimney at the junction with the adjacent property, Dolly’s Cottage. The barn extends to the west of the left cottage, at the same height, and comprises three bays, with a doorway at the junction, a segmental-headed wagon doorway in the middle with long rubble voussoirs, and some blocked slit-breathers.

Inside the left cottage, there is a sunk floor and a pair of large chamfered lateral beams. The right-hand cottage features a pair of smaller chamfered axial beams, a large 18th-century rectangular fireplace with a corbelled lintel and moulded cornice, containing a mid-19th-century iron range with cranes, and flanking the fireplace, complete suites of built-in 18th-century cupboards with fielded and shaped panels. On the first floor, the left cottage has a lateral beam (boxed), and the ceiling to the east of it is noticeably lower than to the west, potentially indicating a former partial attic loft.