TQ 53 NW SPELDHURST GROOMBRIDGE HILL (west side), OLD GROOMBRIDGE 7/520 Blue Cottage GV II House, formerly 2 cottages. C17 or early C18 origins, refurbished in late C19, modernised circa 1980. Weatherboarded timber-framing on red brick footings. Brick stack and chimneyshaft. Peg-tile roof. Plan: House built as a pair of cottages alongside the road and facing south. Whole house has a 3-room plan with lean-to outshots each end. Right end room has end stack. This is the only surviving stack. Formerly a one-room plan cottage right and 2-room cottage to left. Partition between centre and right rooms has now been removed. Present layout is that of the C20 modernisation of a pair of late C19 cottages. The roof structure suggests C17 or early C18 origins but the layout of that building is not known. 2 storeys with lean-to outshots each end. Exterior: Symmetrical 3-window front of C20 casements with diamond leaded effect. First floor windows are flat-roofed half dormers. 2 front doorways contain late C19 plank doors with coverstrips. Continuous timber hood on shaped brackets over ground floor windows and doors. Similar doors under gables each end into the outshots. Main roof is gable-ended. Interior: Has plain carpentry detail. On the first floor the tie beams of the trusses are exposed. Mortises in them suggest a higher first floor level formerly. 3-bay roof of extensively mended tie-beam trusses with clasped side purlins and queen struts. Blue Cottage, very attractive in its own right, forms part of a group with other listed buildings on Groombridge Hill. Listing NGR: TQ5337038016