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Society visit to Tudor Cottage
A ‘full house’ of Society members descended on Tudor Cottage on a fine day that favoured us as we explored the cottage garden or were expertly escorted in two smaller groups by Bob Baxter. This charming ‘hall house’ is one of the small cluster of remaining thatched mediaeval houses in Cellar Hill.
Our visit began with a short talk about hall-house construction techniques, illustrated with models and simply pointing to the features on the outside of the house.
Very quickly we learned that the Tudor Cottage was a tale of several parts. The main body of the house was significantly added to only a matter of a couple of decades after the original build! Quite why this was so is not known. There are striking differences to the two parts - the older part showing fewer upright oak timbers that mark out the addition as more ‘opulent’ in terms of ownership. Internal features showed a range of developments, reflecting innovations such as glazed windows (no longer needing slides for boards to make weather-tight!). Between the ‘new’ and ‘old’ parts, there sits a section that allowed the smoke from the inglenooks to draw up and out of the building; thus replacing the early feature of hall-houses of an open fire with no chimney but venting out through gaps left for the purpose). Under the long labour of love from the Baxter family to expose original features, we were able to see mysterious echoes of the past in various grooves, mortice holes, and internal layout that includes a large fireplace on one of the first floor landings! There is also a substantial and ornate (for the period) heavy oak door that raised more questions than answers - it faces onto the garden - so did the road pass to the east of the cottage at one time rather than the west? Would an easterly lane imply a change in location for the well? Too many questions!
The Society are fortunate to have been given access to a thorough historical appraisal of Tudor Cottage that can be enjoyed from this web site.
Opening up their home was made even more enjoyable by the home-made cakes and teas laid on by Norma, friends and Committee members and other friends. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
Nigel Heriz-Smith
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