Building record NEN 024 - Sparrows, Newton Green

Sparrows Cottage is an unusually complete small domestic house of the early-18th century. It's timber framed and thatched structure stands just seven feet high at the eaves. The internal layout is that of a complete domestic house , and its proportions and poor materials suggest that this was designed for an artisan or smallholder at the lower end of the social hierachy. Whilst the nature of the carpentry suggests a date of circa 1700 the arrangement is more closely related to the Middle Ages than to the fashionable houses of the same period; the central of its three rooms was still open to the roof in the medieval tradition, despite the presence of a large fireplace, and the cottage would have been outmoded, even by the standards of the day. The building contains reused timbers from at least one 15th or 16th century builidng and has architectural features not found prior to the mid-17th century. The present stair and ceiling in the central hall are late-19th or early-20th century insertions. With the exception of a small lean-to extension at the southern gable the proportions of the building remain unlatered (S1).