The Bell Inn

Description

This information is taken from the statutory List as it was in 2001 and may not be up to date.

INGATESTONE AND FRYERNING TQ6499 HIGH STREET, Ingatestone 723-1/14/400 (South East side) 29/12/52 The Bell Inn (Formerly Listed as: BRENTWOOD HIGH STREET, Ingatestone (South East side) The Bell Inn)

GV II Public house. Early C15, late C15, early C17, C19.

Timber-framed, plastered and weatherboarded, peg and C20 Clay-tiled roof. T-plan, principal range parallel to street with rear central right angled wing. EXTERIOR: 2 storey. N front elevation, continuous jetty with angle-post and brace to dragon-beam for end wall jetty at E end. End jetty now masked by C20 extension. C17 principal stack of 4 plain separate diagonally set shafts off centre towards E end - some rebuilding. Second stack through front roof pitch at W end. Ground floor C20 doorway in front of principal stack with simple bracketed flat hood, moulded doorcase and narrow side and top light round doorway. Door, boarded with upper glazing - glazing bars 2x3 panes, three C19 three cant bay windows all sashes with glazing bars. E-W 5x4 panes, 3x4, 4x4 all side cants of 2x4 panes. W bay window flanked by a jetty bracket each side, one to W carefully chamfered. Small C20 single storeyed unit added at E and W ends. E has top hung casement window with glazing bars 3x3 panes. First floor 4 similar early C19 sash windows, moulded architraves, glazing bars 4x4 panes. Bressumer has double ovolo-moulded facia board, early C17 in part. Also, deep plain save board, partly obscures first-floor window heads. Rear S elevation, central plan gable end of S wing with further small ground-floor projection, also plan: To E principal block, ground floor weatherboarded with rear doorway, simple version of front door, side lights to E side only, door similar to that on front. Adjacent 2-light casement window with glazing bars, 2x2 panes, to W, small C20 ground-floor unit, flat roofed. First floor, C20 2-light casement windows with glazing bars 2x2 panes. E of central wing, C19 ground-floor projection to E from wing encloses a small ya_~~within, rear of principal range-ground floor weatnerboarded with C20 glazed door glazing bars, 2x4 panes. First floor plastered, early C19 sliding sash window (frame now simplified) with glazing bars 4x3 panes -also, C20 casement window with glazing bars 2x3 panes. E end C20 ground floor situation (masking jetty) has 2 simple metal-framed casement windows. Rear wing, E face to yard, early C18 triple shouldered stack, some burnt headers, adjacent broad C18 2-panelled door, C20 lean-to tiled porch in internal angle of principal range and wing. To E of rear wing, 2 conjured ground floor projections one tiled has gable end C20 double casement window off centre, glazing bars 4x3 panes, adjacent projection has single pitch slate roof with C19 2x2 paned casement windows in E end. W end elevation - to N plain end of principal block jettied to street, with small C20 ground-floor addition to W with 3 similar simple casement windows. To S, S wing, W side elevation, ground floor weatherboarded, partly over C19 brick dwarf wall. Simple C19 bead moulded doorway with plain C20 door: Each side, a C20 casement window with glazing bars, to N of 3 lights 3x3 panes, to S of 2 lights, 4x3 panes. First floor, one C19 and one C20 3-light casement windows with glazing bars both 6x3 panes. To S lesser building row a garage with C20 bonded double doors. INTERIOR: 3 phases of timber-framed construction evident, together creating the present long jettied form: (1) Earliest unit early C15, central, originally with jettied gable end to street with doorway (blocked) having elegant hollow chamfered 4-centred arched head also evidence of adjacent original window, sill mortice and shutter groove remain. N-S axis of central unit shown by orientation of jawl pests; and a transverse tie-beam, also transverse ground-floor binding joint with partition mortices. A plain exterior jetty bracket on the street frontage remains from this phase. Framing, plain except for step-stopped chamfer on W side middle rail. (2) Late C15 addition to W side with richly moulded ground-floor ceiling joists. Crossed binding and bridging joists as well as common joists have chamfer comprising cymas, rolls and hollow, moulding at ends of binding joist elegantly converge and run out. Also, a conntemporary ground-floor brick fireplace, off-centre to N at W end - defaced timber lintel but remnants of roll in hollow moulding. High above, 7 trefoiled corbelled arches, in narrow brick, rest of fireplace rebiuilt in C19 brickwork, lintel underbuilt with reduced segment headed fireplace and niche. Roof of unit not visible but central vertical post above tie-beam implies crown-post form. Chamfered jetty bracket visible on street frontage supports projecting binding joist having refined shaped soffit. Shutter groove from original ground-floor window. (3) Early C17 addition to E side of original unit - dragon-beam carries quite deep sectioned joists around N side and E end; framing plan with slightly carved internal nailed tension braces. Contemporary large 4 fluid stack at junction of central and E end units with original ground-floor fireplaces - to E, shallow segment arched head with ovolo-moulding to both arch and rectangular surround, also, timber bearer over arch; fragment of decorated plaster ornamental convives - reed moulded square panel within outer linked square and central moulded device (plain ceiling joists probably originally supported similar plasterd ceiling). The fireplace on the reverse W side has 2 chamfered orders round a flattened triangular head, stack here bridges older partition in early central unit. First-floor fireplaces, raw blocked. Rear first-floor passage way contrived along length of block; 2 contemporary, doorways survive, one with lamb's tongue chamfer strip. Also, first floor closet in void between principal stack and front wall of same phase, original door frame on E side. Rear wing to S also of early C17, 2 bays with blocked ground-floor 3-light ovolo mullioned window and axial bridging joist with lamb's tongue chamfer strips. Also, central partition studs above the beam have Roman numeral carpenters marks 1-8, primary bracing below tie-beam. Edge halved and bridled scarfs in both wall plates over central posts. C19 work includes the additions in the rear court and the replacement of earlier windows by the centred windows on the front ground floor. The building was said to have projected at the W end as well as the E end (RCHM). This can never have been a medieval jetty; the C15 stack occupies this space. (RCHM: Central and SW Essex : Monument 7).

Listing NGR: TQ6498599512

Content

This is part of the Series: IOE01/0432 IOE Records taken by Colleen Cole; within the Collection: IOE01 Images Of England

Rights

© Mrs Colleen Cole. Source: Historic England Archive

This photograph was taken for the Images of England project