Building record 1305800000 - THE COTTAGE, FRIETH

Grade II. House. Rear bay probably C16, with C17 bay to front and C19 extension to left. C17 bay has timber frame with herringbone brick infill exposed to first floor front, the ground floor and right gable rebuilt in flint and brick. More timber framing in rear wing. C19 bay is of brick, roughcast to front and left side. Old tile roofs, brick chimneys between older bays and to left. L-plan with small C20 extension in rear angle. 2-storey front range, lower rear bay of one storey and an attic. 2 bays to front, the left gabled. Left bay has paired wooden casements, 2 to ground floor, one to first floor, and blind flint roundel with keyed brick surround in gable. Right bay also has wooden casements, 3-light to ground floor, 2-light with glazing bars above. Rear bay has door, casement and small gabled dormer. Interior: timber framing survives in internal walls, the front bay with heavy diagonal wall braces; winder stair in line with fireplace to rear of C17 bays. Rear bay has arched wind-braces and was possibly once an open hall. RCHM I p. 188 Mon. 29 (B1).
The windbraced roof and low ceiling (which indicates floor insertion) of the rear wing suggests that this room would originally have been larger, extending southwards into an area subsequently re-built. This phase is not closely dateable stylistically but was probably constructed in C16, possibly in the first half of the century. The timber-framed eastern half of the two storey main range was re-built in C17, and subsequently floored over for use as a service wing; its roof does not survive (B2).
Watching brief carried out by John Moore Heritage Services in October 2009 during groundworks for extension at rear of property recorded an undated lime-slaking pit (B3).