Summary
A vernacular house, built in the C17 or early C18, extended to the north in the mid-C19 and to the rear in the mid-C20.
Reasons for Designation
Pear Tree Cottage, a vernacular house built in the C17 or early C18, extended to the north in the mid-C19 and to the rear in the mid-C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for the survival of its historic timber frame, back-to-back chimney stack and plan form;
* for its construction utilising timber, wattle and daub and thatch, exhibiting local distinctiveness in its form, materials and craftsmanship;
* for the clarity with which its lobby-entry plan can be understood.
Group value:
* it stands approximately 90 metres north of Old World Cottage, two thatched cottages built around 1600 (listed at Grade II), with which it forms a historic group.
History
Pear Tree Cottage was probably built in the C17 or early C18. It appears to be recorded on the Tithe apportionment of 1844 as ‘House and Land’ (Plot 203), owned by Philip Harrold and occupied by himself and others, and shown on the Tithe plan of the Parish of East Harling in 1846 as a detached rectangular-plan building. The rectangular-plan cottage is later shown on the Ordnance Survey (OS) maps published in 1884 and 1905, with a two storey building attached to the north gable, probably added in the mid-C19. A rectangular-plan, single-storey extension was added to the rear of Pear Tree Cottage in the mid-C20, providing a garden room and bathroom, and is shown on the 1981 OS map.
Details
A vernacular house, built in the C17 or early C18, extended to the north in the mid-C19 and to the rear in the mid-C20.
MATERIALS: The building has a thatched roof, timber-framed structure, and rendered walls.
PLAN: The lobby-entry house is rectangular on plan, facing west to Garboldisham Road.
EXTERIOR: Pear Tree Cottage is rectangular on plan and one and half storeys in height, facing west to Garboldisham Road. The pitched roof has a thatch covering with an ornamental block ridge. The principal (west) elevation is generally three bays wide with a central brick chimneystack and entrance, as is characteristic of a lobby entry plan. The attic has wall dormers to the outer bays, each with pitched, plain-tile roofs. The attic and ground floor windows contain 2-pane, side-hung timber casement windows. The central door opening contains a 4-panel wooden door. An additional bay (now containing a kitchen) was added to the north end of the principal elevation in the mid-C19; the attached building to the north has a flying freehold of around 1.5 metres over the kitchen of Pear Tree Cottage.
The south gable has a flat-arched window opening at ground floor level, containing a fixed window.
The rear (east) slope of the roof has a single wall dormer towards the north end. A flat-arched door opening near the south end with a glazed door. A mid-C20, single-storey, rectangular-plan garden room was added to the rear elevation in the mid-C20 and has a gently sloping lean-to roof.
INTERIOR: The building retains its lobby-entry plan form with a small lobby inside the front door, and a dining room and living room to the north and south of a substantial chimneybreast. Within the lobby, the wall opposing the entrance (the west side of the chimneybreast) features two alcoves. The living room retains a substantial chamfered beam, exposed timber joists, and an inglenook fireplace. The dining room retains an exposed chamfered beam. Off the north side of the dining room, the building was extended in the mid-C19 and now contains a kitchen. The east (rear) wall of the dining room retains a four-paned window, and a door provides access to a mid-C20 garden room to the rear and a bathroom in the north-east corner.
From the south-east corner of the dining room, a stair rises along the east side of the chimneybreast to a first-floor landing, off which is a large bedroom to the south, and two smaller bedrooms to the north-east and north-west. The timber-framed structure appears to survive intact, and the wall plate remains exposed.
