Leigh Alston undertook a Historic England Level 2 historic building survey in October 2017 in accordance with a planning condition for redevelopment (Colchester Borough Council application 172036).<1> It was built in c.1870 as part of a speculative development on former farmland together with an identical structure known as Riverside House slightly further to the south. The twin properties were divided before 1897 by the insertion of three further houses into the same plot. The Cottage is arranged symmetrically with two ground and first-rooms on each side of a central stair passage, and consists of a weatherboarded timber frame with a slate roof and brick chimneys against both gables. The framing is entirely of uniform, mechanically sawn pine, and represents the most modern, efficient and – at just 13 feet in width – the most inexpensive method of construction for its period. The western facade remains almost completely unaltered with its original cladding, sash windows and front door, and represents a remarkable survival of considerable local historic interest. The entire building appears to have been equally well preserved until c.2010 when the integral lean-to that extended the length of its rear elevation was demolished and its interior completely stripped of its original plaster. The building had been derelict for some years at the time of inspection.