Summary
Former open hall house, now private dwelling, probably built in the C16, floored and stack inserted in the C17, extended in the mid-C19, early C20 and late C20. As the special interest is concentrated in the C16 range, the C19 and C20 additions are considered to be of lesser interest.
Reasons for Designation
Pillar Box Cottage, a former open hall house, now private dwelling, probably built in the C16, with a floor and stack inserted in the C17, and extended and remodelled in the mid-C19 and C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for its origins as a C16 open hall house retaining a significant proportion of its original timber frame, including a substantially intact roof structure;
* for its evidence for historic carpentry techniques;
* its C17 remodelling helps in the understanding of how the building evolved to meet the expectations of wealthier residents, especially with regard to changes in the concepts of privacy and hygiene along with the impact of other social and economic changes;
* for the survival of historic features related to its C17 remodelling, including a brick-built inglenook fireplace and chamfered ceiling beams.
Historic interest:
* for its specific illustration of the evolution in domestic arrangements from the late-medieval open-hall house to the heated house of the early-modern period.
History
Pillar Box Cottage is believed to have been built in the C16 as an open hall house. Surviving historic fabric suggests that it was originally a three-bay single-storey building, possibly with a solar at the south end, to which a floor and stack were inserted in the C17. Little is known of its subsequent history until the 1842 Tithe Survey when it was occupied by William Eden, a farm bailiff employed by the Upwick Farm Estate. The associated Tithe Map depicts the cottage as a rectangular building aligned roughly north to south. William Eden was still resident at the cottage at the time of the 1861 Census, then aged 73, along with his wife, Elizabeth Eden, a laundress. Later Census returns record subsequent bailiffs as William Farr (1871), Robert Hawker (1881) and William Osborne (1891). By 1879, when the first Ordnance Survey 25-inch map of the area was published, the cottage had been extended with the addition of a cross wing at the north end to form an L-shaped plan.
In 1897, the Upwick Farm Estate was offered for sale by auction. An advertisement in the Chelmsford Chronicle (see Sources) described the estate as comprising a 'brick and timber-built and tiled farmhouse (Upwick Farmhouse), bailiff’s house, four double tenements for farm labourers, ample farm buildings, and the off-hand farmhouse and homestead known as Piggots'. Although the estate changed hands, the 1901 Census confirms that the cottage continued to be occupied by its farm bailiff, with Charles Gilman being resident at that time, along with his wife, Gertrude, and their five daughters and one son.
When the third OS 25-inch map of the area was published in 1921 a small extension had been added to the west side of the C19 cross wing.
In 1977, the Upwick Estate, comprising Upwick Green Farm, Upwick Hall Farm, and Folly Far, was sold at auction, with Harry Sporborg of Much Hadham acquiring Upwick Hall, and Sir Jules Thorn (1899-1980), founder of Thorn Electrical Industries, the remainder. Pillar Box Cottage subsequently became a private residence and was remodelled and extended in the late C20 to meet modern living standards. Some of the earlier extensions were subsequently remodelled or replaced.
Details
Former open hall house, now private dwelling, probably built in the C16, floored and stack inserted in the C17, extended in the mid-C19, early C20 and late C20. As the special interest is concentrated in the C16 range, the C19 and C20 additions are considered to be of lesser interest.
MATERIALS: timber-framed and cement rendered with a clay tile roof and brick stack.
PLAN: originally a single-storey three-bay open hall house, aligned roughly north to south, now extended as a private dwelling with a roughly cruciform plan.
EXTERIOR: on the west side, the former open hall range adjoins the right-hand side of a mid-C19/early-C20 gabled range (of lesser interest). It is of one-and-a-half storeys with four- and two-light casements to the ground floor and a gabled attic dormer with a three-light casement. Its right-hand return has a blind ground floor and a three-light casement above. The rear elevation of the former open hall range is obscured at ground floor level by a 1990s conservatory (of lesser interest). Its ground floor has a glazed door with a four-light casement to its right-hand side. Above are two gabled attic dormers with three- and four-light casements to the left- and right-hand sides respectively.
To the west side again, the two-storey gabled range (of lesser interest), which has single three-light casement windows to each floor, is adjoined on its left-hand side by a 1980s extension (of lesser interest), which is in turn adjoined on its left by a 1990s extension (of lesser interest), both of one-and-a-half storeys . The former has a pair of French doors and a flanking cross window on its ground floor along with a gabled dormer with a three-light casement to the attic. The latter range, which is slightly recessed behind the building line of the 1980s extension, has a two-light casement on the west side, while its north wall has a four-light casement on the ground floor and a gabled dormer with a two-light casement to the attic. The rear (east) elevation of these two separate additions now read as a single composition with an off-centre left six-panelled door beneath a gabled hood on curved wooden brackets. It is flanked on each side by single-light casements and to the attic there is a large gabled dormer with a three-light casement.
To the left, projecting at a right angle, is a gabled range of one-and-a-half storeys (of lesser interest) which was probably built in the 1980s to replace a C19 range. Its north, east and south walls all have four-light casement to the ground floor and gabled attic dormers with three-, four- and four-light casements respectively. Placed in the angle between this range and the C16 range is a 1990s conservatory (of lesser interest).
All casement windows and the door in the east wall of the former open hall range date are of late-C20 date and have horizontal glazing bars. The roof has exposed rafter ends throughout and is covered with decorative panels of fish scale tiles bordered by plain tiles. Most gable heads have pargetted panels with relief decoration and the brick stack is probably of mid-C19 date.
INTERIOR: the special interest is concentrated in the former C16 open hall range. Of three bays, each bay is defined throughout by jowled wall posts, except for the north end wall where the posts and much framing was removed when the bay was remodelled and opened out to accommodate a mid-C19 addition. The north bay also accommodates a lateral brick stack whose insertion, probably in the C17, resulted in the removal of a large section of stud walling between the north and centre bays to accommodate an inglenook fireplace with a timber bressumer. The remaining section of stud wall consists of three studs set into a deep sole plate which has been partly cut away on the west side to form a doorway. To the ceiling there is a chamfered axial beam with lambs tongue stops supported at the division between the centre and south bays by a pillow on the head on a large timber post; the presence of peg holes and mortices in the post suggests that it is a reused piece of timber. From the pillow a chamfered axial beam spans the length of the southern bay where the east and west walls have some exposed studwork, with the walling on the east side having a concave brace. The ceiling also has exposed joists, possibly indicating the position of a former solar.
On the first floor of the former open hall, which is accessed by a late-C20 dog-leg staircase, much of the timber framing is exposed throughout. It includes a clasped purlin roof that retains the majority of the tie beams, collars, rafters and wall plates, albeit some rafters have been removed below purlin level to accommodate dormer windows, and some tie beams have been cut to create doorways. A small section of the original north end wall, which was largely removed in the mid-C19, has been recreated at the head of the staircase, possibly in the late C20, using both reclaimed and modern timber.
The walls throughout are mainly covered with plasterboard. The C19 and C20 additions retain no features of note.
