Harwood Cottage

Harwood Cottage is a house located on St Thomas Street in Wells. It dates from the late 16th century, with modifications made in the 18th century and later. The exterior is rendered and colourwashed, topped with a triple-roll clay tiled roof that has a plain gable on the west side and an abutment on the east side, with no visible stack. The house has a single heated-room plan with a cross-passage to the left.

The building is two storeys high with attics and features irregular fenestration across two bays. On the ground floor, there is a 16-pane sash window in the centre, while the first floor has two 12-pane sashes, all set in plain openings. A raking dormer contains a wide 4-light casement window with horizontal bars, crossing the line of the main truss. The entrance is to the left, featuring a 6-panel door accessed by four stone steps. In the west gable, there is a plain casement window at attic level and a 4-pane sash window on the first floor.

Inside, the cross-passage is made of stone and has a deep double lintel at the rear wall. The ground floor includes two deep-chamfered 16th-century beams with half-pyramid stops; one is located to the left of the passage, while the other is centred in the main room, which has a 19th-century fireplace on a projecting chimney breast, likely concealing an earlier fireplace. A straight wooden stair runs across the rear wall. On the first floor, to the left, there is a deep roof principal with a butt purlin. The gable wall features a cupboard door on angle hinges, which was formerly a window or door opening, and the room to the right has a floor made of early wide boards. The two-bay roof has heavy principals with a cambered collar and chamfered butt purlins, and there are mortices indicating former wind-bracing. The building was previously known as the East Wells Inn.