The Old Cottage

The Old Cottage is a 16th-century building constructed from rubble stone, featuring stone tiles laid in diminishing courses and stone end-stacks. The southeast front has a prominent one-and-a-half storey design with a large central gable. At the top of the gable is a 4-light diamond mullion window with four panes, a wooden lintel, and a shallow stone sill. Below this, there is an 8-light diamond mullion window with small rectangular leaded panes, also with a shallow wooden lintel and stone sill. On the ground floor, from left to right, there is a small square staircase window with leaded panes and a shallow timber lintel, followed by a taller 2-light window with leaded panes and a boarded door, both under a single timber lintel. Next is a plank door with strap hinges and another 2-light window with leaded panes, again beneath a single lintel. The southwest gable features a small 2-pane ground-floor window with a shallow stone sill, while the northeast gable has a projecting bread oven and a small 20th-century 1+1 casement window with a timber lintel. The rear elevation shows part of the original 16th-century house with a 2-light mullion window and a 4-light diamond mullion window, alongside a small 20th-century single-storey gabled extension.

Inside, the cottage boasts a fine interior with well-preserved 16th-century details. The ground floor ceiling beams and joists are chamfered with hollow and fillet stops. There is a post and panel partition featuring similar stops, although the original doorway next to the entrance has been blocked, and an enlarged opening has been made at the opposite end of the partition. The fireplace in the smaller 'inner' room has a stone lintel with a flat head and a brick relieving arch above, along with a bread oven in the fireplace recess. The hall fireplace also has a chamfered stone lintel, and to the left is a boarded door leading to the fireplace stair. On the upper floor, the timber-framing of the central partition truss is exposed, showcasing raking V-posts, oak staves above the collar, and a tie beam cut-through to accommodate a Tudor-arched doorway. The roof structure includes three tiers of trenched purlins.