Helen Allingham, who lived very near by, painted cottage gardens, overflowing with flowers and poulated by local subjects. She did two such paintings of this house, both architecturally accurate but with different foregrounds and backgrounds (which she was known to paint in afterwards).

However, her third watercolour – “After Four Centuries” – is far more a portrait of the house as it was in around 1885.

The painting appears in ‘The Cottage Homes of England’ written in 1909 by Stewart Dick and shows the structure in great detail, accurately drawing the timber frame and tiled roof. None of the “chocolate box” surroundings are included in this piece and it is very interesting to compare the painting with a photo taken around 2000, before the elevation was rebuilt, and today, after its complete restoration.

It is really quite staggering how much of the original structure – dating from around 1450 – still exits.