Building record 1074700000 - YEW TREES, DUCK LAKE

Grade II. Small house. C17 altered. Render and roughcast over timber frame and stone plinth. Right-hand gable wall of rendered rubble stone, slightly projecting to front and rear. Concrete tiled roof, brick stack between left-hand bays and another partly external to right gable. Two storeys, raised eaves, three bays. Ground floor has 3-light windows with wooden mullions to outer bays. 3-light C19 barred wooden casements to first floor left hand bays. Ledged doors to left and between right hand bays (B1).
Site visit (2001) building shown to have medieval core (B2).
Building recording, test pitting and watching brief carried out by Oxford Archaeology in November 2002 and April 2003 confirmed that the main cottage is cruck-framed, probably dating from the later 15th or 16th century and that much of the original roof structure remains in-situ. The cruck blades are held by a yoke at the apex, supporting a square set ridge piece, and are braced bt a collar just below purlin level. A single storey extension was identified as of late 18th or 19th century date. The test pits showed that the cottage was constructed on a clay layer used to form a firm base and that the stone floor slabs were embedded in a thin layer of mortar. See report for detail (B3).