Listed Building: 11 BIRD-IN-HAND STREET (1261076)

TQ 53 37 SPELDHURST BIRD-IN-HAND STREET, OLD GROOMBRIDGE 16/456 No 11 20.10.54 GV II* Cottage. Probably late C17/early C18, minor C19 and C20 modernisations. Tall plinth of coursed sandstone. Rest is timber-framed; the ground floor level is weatherboarded and hung with peg-tile above. Brick stack, probably with stone base, and brick chimneyshaft. Peg-tile roof. Plan: 2-room plan cottage facing north east. The larger right (north west) room has a projecting gable-end stack with a smaller former service room to left. 2 storeys with attics in the roofspace and a cellar under the left end. Various C19 and C20 single storey extensions, one on right end and others to rear. Exterior: Regular but not symmetrical 3-window front of C19 and C20 casements containing diamond panes of leaded glass (some of the frames may be earlier). Front doorway right of centre up a flight of 7 stone steps. It contains a plain plank door. Tall stone plinth contains a boarded hatch to the cellar towards the left end. Roof is gable-ended. Interior: Is mostly the result of superficial C19 and C20 modernisations. The fireplace is blocked and most of the carpentry is hidden behind plaster. The main ground floor has a chamfered axial beam. Roof structure in the attic is boxed in. No 11 is an attractive and unspoilt cottge in its own right but also is one of a superlative group of similar buildings associated with Groombridge Place (q.v.) which make up Old Groombridge village. Listing NGR: TQ5295237749