Zinch Cottage

Zinch Cottage is a cottage dating back to the 16th century, possibly enlarged in the late 16th or early 17th century, and altered in the mid-20th century. The exterior is rendered over random rubble, topped with a thatched roof, and features a stone stack at the right gable end and another in the centre. The building originally comprised two rooms, an unusual feature being that the right-hand room is splayed out at an angle to the left. A stair turret is situated at the rear junction, and a 20th-century addition on the left creates an L-shape. It has one and a half storeys and a 2:1 bay arrangement. The windows are 20th-century leaded casements, with eyebrow dormers to the first floor. A trelliswork porch with a thatched hood shelters a studded plank door, and there are two casements to the right, alongside a slightly curved projection at the junction of the two rooms. A single-storey, pantiled gabled addition is present on the left. The rear elevation incorporates a jettied bay at first-floor level, with a dormer casement at the northwest end. Inside, the left room has chamfered beams with long spade stops, while the right room features scroll stops where the beams splay out at an angle from a rear wall that is shorter than the front wall. Surviving elements include a lath and plaster partition on the first floor and a collar and principal roof. Historical records suggest the cottage may have begun as a single-cell dwelling, later enlarged with the addition of the right room and stair turret, reflecting the property boundary. The 1842 tithe map indicates that Zinch House and Zinch Cottage have been in separate ownership since the Middle Ages.