As the name implies, Post Cottage was for some time the village post office and store. The little shop window remains, with an effective method of barring the shutter and securing it from inside.
Post Cottage is an eighteenth century two-room cottage of two floors. It is built of stone to the ground floor, with galleting and brick quoins, and above is tile hung. The roof is half-hipped and tiled. The roof structure is clasped purlin with five queen struts up to the collar. Outshots at the back have been raised to give bedrooms over, and have a gable ended roof. There are now two parallel roofs. Downstairs the rooms have been opened back. No hearths remain to the front rooms. An end outshot has been built up for a bedroom over. The well is outside at this north end.
The front extension has a door, now blocked, facing the front garden. Whether this was also a shop at one time is not known; it has no shop window, but has its own little chimney.
The house is parallel to the street, and it faces north east. The front is in coursed stone up to first floor, with iron-stone galleting, or ‘ten penny nails’ as it is called in some parts of Surrey. The old salmon-coloured bricks are set in twos around the windows and central door. The hanging tiles are set in rows of plain tiles and bull nosed – two rows of each.
Round the south-east end, the wall is of rough random stone with tile hanging in the eaves. The gable ended added parallel building at the back is of new brick – all in stretcher bond. This addition is carefully bonded in.
The north-west end which is a built-up lean-to was designed for attic storage and there is a blocked window in the roof space. This end of the house is well finished under the tiles with a row of stretcher bricks and then a black header to each. The outshot behind has been extended and raised a little. Beyond is the raised outshot, making an M roof, and the parallel roofs can be clearly seen. This back range is in new brick.
The entrance is in the original position in the centre of the little old cottage. The door leads directly into the living room, which had been turned into the little shop. Now a lobby partition has been built, and the hearth in the back section has been given a timber surround in keeping. There is a timber beam which stretches from front to back of the living room. It is chamfered and has a lamb tongue stop at each end. The beam which is in the other room is not so well finished and has no stop, demonstrating that this room had been less important. The stairs rise up in the front of this room to a landing. Both rooms have been opened back into the old outshot.
There are two doors through on the ground floor to the end lean-to. This end wall has a thick outside wall and is now down a step to the old scullery which has a room over. The well is outside at this end.
Upstairs, the landing room has been partitioned off to give passage way to the newer bedrooms. There is an old partition wall between the two original rooms made of rough timbers.
Within the roof space the old roof remains. It was half-hipped at both ends. There are clasped purlins and raking queen posts. Each rafter is pegged to the purlin and at apex. They are 10 x 10 cms wide. The end trusses have five pegged queen strutts to the collar.
The new roof over the built up end bay has staggered butt purlins, set square and pegged through. The short rafters are fish-tailed over and nailed. There are old doors, and some old windows.
Recorded by Cecilia Green and Joan Harding, June 1977
Copyright Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey) 1977
Links to more detail:
Eashing Post Cottage sketch and ground plan
Eashing Post Cottage elevation and outshot
Eashing Post Cottage long diagram and carpenters’ marks
Eashing Post Cottage internal photos 1977
Eashing Post Cottage external photos 1977