NHER 69239 (Monument record) - Site of 17th-century cottage with 18th- and 19th-century additions (Pear Tree Cottage)

Site of Pear Tree Cottage – a timber-framed cottage of probable 17th-century date with 18th and 19th-century additions. It was originally part of an area of common-edge settlement which grew up along the northern edge of Wreningham Low Common. It was demolished on 8 March 2022.

March 2022. Building Survey.
Survey undertaken prior to the demolition of Pear Tree Cottage.
Pear Tree Cottage is shown an 'L'-shaped building on the Wreningham Tithe map (S1) and as three separate dwellings forming an 'L' shape on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25-inch map (S2) – a terrace of two north-to-south aligned buildings and an adjoining east-to-west aligned dwelling to the north. It is recorded that from 1877 the village Post Office was located in the northernmost building. Aerial imagery shows that the southernmost building lost its roof at some point between 1999 and 2006 and had been entirely demolished by 2016.
The north-south range was the earliest of the surviving structure and comprised a one-and-a-half storey cottage with a full-height ground floor and attic rooms above and a pantile roof. The western principle façade was rendered and had a central doorway that aligned with the brick chimney stack above, creating a lobby-style entrance. The southern gable of this building had been an internal partition before the demolition of the cottage to the south and in places its render had broken up to reveal its original lath-and-plaster construction. The dormer windows could be seen to be later insertions into the fabric of the roof. It is likely that this and the demolished cottage to the south were constructed as single-storey dwellings in the late 17th century. The central stack of the surviving cottage was constructed during the 18th century and the first floor was probably inserted at the same time. In the mid to late 19th century the central chimney stack was remodelled to create a partition wall containing a fireplace in the room to the north and a kitchen with fireplace, hob and oven to the south. This remodelling also saw the creation of a staircase on the lobby side of the chimney and the creation of a larder in the southern part of the southern room. The roof was probably also replaced or extensively repaired at this time. This programme of works also saw the construction of a two-storey annex to the north-east of the cottage, with both ground-floor and first-floor connecting doors. It is likely that this expansion of Pear Tree Cottage was undertaken in the 1870s, after its owner acquired the Wreningham Post Office.
At the time of the survey the interior of the building had been stripped of all fixtures and fittings and it was clear that it had been derelict for a considerable time.
Two outbuildings on the site were also of probable mid- to late 19th-century date. The northernmost had remained unaltered but the southern building had lost its southern half in the early 21st-century.
See report (S3) for further details. See also photographs (S4).
P. Watkins (HES), 12 July 2025.