Orchard Cottage

Orchard Cottage is a house dating from the late medieval period, with significant alterations made in the early and mid 16th century and later additions. The exterior is rendered over uncoursed limestone rubble, topped with a half-hipped thatch roof, and features a brick ridge stack and two 18th and 19th century brick stacks to the rear. Originally designed with an open-hall plan, with a service bay to the left and a parlour bay to the right, a floor and stack were inserted backing onto a through-passage in the early or mid 16th century. A thatched porch fronts the building, and the windows are 20th-century casements, with those on the upper floor set within eyebrow dormers. A 16th-century chamfered two-light wood-mullioned window provides light to the staircase at the rear. Inside, two obscured late medieval cruck trusses are visible over the hall and service end of the building. The parlour end has heavy rectangular joints on thick beams. The hall features a 16th-century quartered ceiling with moulded beams. Other features include a 16th-century chamfered elliptical-arched doorframe, with coverstrips, to a plank door between the stack and winder stairs. A heavy chamfered bressummer with a moulded mantelshelf sits above the open fireplace, and a chamfered and arched doorframe leads to the parlour.