HILDENBOROUGH EGGPIE LANE TQ 54 NW 4/116 Muddle Cottage II Small house. Circa early C17 possibly a remodelling of an earlier house, with later rear additions including a rear kitchen wing of the circa 1970s. Framed construction, the ground floor plastered, the first floor tile-hung; peg-tile roof; brick stack. The rear additions are in brick and tile. Plan and Development: The house faces east. The early arrangement has a small 2-cell lobby entrance plan with a parlour to the right (north) and a second heated room to the left (south) with fireplaces back-to-back in the axial stack. The southern room functioned as a kitchen (said to have bread oven) but may also have served as some kind of workshop as it is lit by an 8- light original ribbon window. There is evidence of a former stair in the outer rear corner of the southern room. The present stair rises in the outer rear corner of the parlour. The crosswing has been extended to the rear (west) and a small outshut in the rear centre links it to a late C20 kitchen wing to the rear (south west) at right angles to the main range. Exterior: 2 storeys with an original attic room to the crosswing. Asymmetrical 2:1 window front, the gable end of the crosswing to the right flush with the main range but with a jettied tile-hung gable on brackets and the first and ground floor windows in a 2-storey projecting bay rising to the jettied gable. C20 gabled brick porch to the lobby entrance to the left of the crosswing. The left hand ground floor window consists of 8-lights in a long ribbon form (q.v. Old Cottage, Philpots Lane). The other windows are 2- and 3-light casements, mostly C20 and glazed with C20 diamond leaded panes. The 2-light attic window in the crosswing is C17 or C18 with its original glazing intact. The roof of the main block is hipped at the left end. The axial stack has staggered triple shafts with corbelled brick cornices. Interior: Very unspoiled. Original chamfered step-stopped crossbeams and exposed joists to both ground floor rooms which preserve their original brick fireplaces with chamfered oak lintels. A trimmer in the ceiling of the southern rooms suggests the position of a former stair. Ledged plank doors to both principal rooms from the lobby, the door to the parlour probably late C17 or early C18. The first floor floorboards are laid directly on to the joists of the parlour ceiling with no plastering between the joists. Original ceiling carpentry survives on the first floor and the front room of the crosswing retains a C17 ovolo-moulded mullioned window, blocked externally, on the north wall. The frame is rebated for glass. Roof: The main range roof is of common rafter construction. The timbers have been repaired and partly renewed and the collars of the rafter couples removed. No access to the crosswing roof at time of survey (1988). A nice example of a small traditional house of C17 or earlier origins with a very complete interior. Listing NGR: TQ5431648998