TQ 55 41 SPELDHURST SPELDHURST HILL (south side), SPELDHURST 12/585 The Cottage 20.10.54 GV II House. Probably mid C17 with some C19 and C20 modernisation. Timber-framed on coursed sandstone footings. Framing is exposed on the front and left end walls, rest clad with peg-tile. Ground floor front is underbuilt with Flemish bond brick with decorative burnt headers. Brick stack, maybe with stone base, brick chimneyshaft including some old brick. Peg-tile roof. Plan: 2-room lobby entrance plan house facing west north west, say west, towards the Church of St Mary (q.v.). Since no internal inspection was available at the time of this survey it was not possible to determine details of the plan. Nevertheless central lobby entrance onto the side of the axial stack which services the left (northern) room. This must have been the main living room with an unheated service room to right. Projecting right end gable-end stack is probably a C19 addition. For a C17 2-room plan house The Cottage is a large and tall building. 2 storeys with attics in the roofspace with secondary outshots to rear. Exterior: Nearly symmetrical 2-window front of late C19 or C20 casements, mostly iron-framed with relatively small panes. Central doorway contains a C20 studded plank door behind a probably late C19 gable porch with cusped bargeboards. Tall and steeply pitched roof is gable-ended. Left (north) roof projects and the wall plate is supported on shaped oak brackets. The framing exposed in the left end includes relatively slender curving braces and the attic includes a C17 or C18 4-light mullioned window. Interior: Was not available for inspection at the time of this survey but, since the external framing is evidently well-preserved, good original carpentry detail is suspected. North end suggests roof of side purlin construction whilst front shows that it is of 3 uneven bays. The Cottage is one of a good group of listed buildings in the vicinity of the Church of St Mary (q.v.). Listing NGR: TQ5541741439