Gulwell House And Gulwell Cottage

Farmhouse, now divided into two cottages, dating from the late medieval and 16th century periods, with an additional room to the north in the 16th century, a rear wing added in the 18th century, and replacement windows in the 20th century. The northern half has been restored, with a rear addition built in the late 20th century. The exterior is roughly cast with remnants of rendered grooved surfaces resembling ashlar and quoins on the north-eastern end of the facade, built on a cob and rubble base. It has a thatched roof, half-hipped to the right, with double Roman tiles to the rear and on the hipped wing facing the south-west front. Brick stacks are located at the left gable end and centre right, at the former gable end of the original dwelling, believed to have been an external stack. The building follows a ‘T’ shape, originally comprising a three-cell plan with a cross passage facing east, enlarged by one bay to the north, and has a rear wing. The southern L-plan section is Gulwell House, while the northern part is Gulwell Cottage.

It is one and a half storeys high, with an irregular fenestration pattern along the long facade. Three-light dormer casements flank the entrance. The eaves line steps down to the right at the junction with an unlit addition on the first floor. Two 20th-century windows are on the left of the entrance, and two two-light windows are to the right. There’s a thatched porch with a hood rising to eaves level – it has half-glazed outer doors and a wide, studded plank inner door. A right return displays three-light casements, evidence of rebuilding around a ground floor window, and a 20th-century entrance in the gable end. The left return has an unlit gable end and a two-bay rear wing.

The interior was not inspected, but it is said to contain painted decoration of flowers and large diamond shapes on plaster in the hall (Gulwell House), now concealed behind boarding. Other features purportedly include a pointed arch-head door leading to an inner room, now obscured, a peaked doorframe for a former stairway opening against the rear wall, altered straight stairs in the wing, and stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. The room to the right of the through passage in Gulwell Cottage has chamfered beads with step and run-out stops. There is evidence of two pairs of jointed cruck trusses; one above the room to the right of the through passage, and the other set in from the north gable end wall in the addition, indicating the use of half-hipped roofs in the 16th century. The hall is considered to be of an unusual high quality given the narrow width and size of the farmhouse.