Building record EBG 038 - Wren Cottage, East Bergholt

Wren Cottage lies within the village envelope of East Bergholt approximately 200 metres NNW of St Mary's church. The house is listed at grade II, and consists of an 18th century front range with a single-storied kitchen wing of the late-17th century to the rear. The property's deeds suggest it was formerly the parish workhouse. The kitchen wing and extensive rear garden (then a meadow owned by the artist's father) are shown in a Constable painting of 1815 along with two thatched buildings forming a stackyard. These structures were replaced in or around 1853 by the present outbuilding, when the ground was purchased by the owner of Wren Cottage - an affluent tradesman.

The outbuilding was built c. 1853, 32m ESE to the house. It forms an unusual single storied timber-framed and weatherboarded structure with a slated roof. It has hipped gables and was also apparently painted grey to reflect the then newly fashionable roof covering. The interior was divided into a stable, tack room and 2 vehicle sheds. The font elevation has been much altered, though a number of horizontal sash windows survive along with shaped wainscot of its horse stalls: curved rails terminate in the finely turned posts with single acorn finials, typical of the 17th C style. These may have been re-used from an earlier building, and the survival of the stalls is rare.