Brookes Farmhouse

Details

TL 82 NW STISTED TUMBLER'S GREEN (north-west side)

2/302 Brookes Farmhouse 23.6.86 (formerly listed as Brooks Farmhouse)

GV II

House. C15 and early C16, altered in later C16, C17, C18 and C20. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red plain tiles. Comprises (1) an early C16 2-bay hall range facing SE, with internal stack at right end against front wall (the latter rebuilt in 1986), (2) a C15 3-bay service crosswing to right, extending to the rear, with an internal stack at rear left (the latter rebuilt in 1986), (3) a C17 one-bay extension to rear of it, substantially wider than the crosswing, (4) a C20 single-storey extension to rear of it, (5) a C17 stair tower to rear right of the hall range, (6) a C20 extension to left of it, (7) an early C16 3-bay parlour/solar crossing to left of the hall range, extending to the rear, (8) an C18 external stack to left of the middle bay of this wing, partly rebuilt in 1986, enclosed by an C18 single-storey lean-to extension, (9) a C20 extension to rear of this crosswing. 2 storeys. 3-window range of C20 casements. C20 door at front of C20 gabled porch. The roof of the hall range oversails both crosswings to form a gablet at each end. The hall range has been much altered, but originally was 3.35 metres high to the wallplates, with jowled posts and curved braces trenched outside the studding, with a cross-entry at the right end, now blocked by the stack. The jointing for an arched doorhead at the front remains. The walls have been raised approximately one metre in the C18 with primary straight bracing and much renewed studding, and the roof rebuilt with a ridge, retaining some smoke-blackened rafters with trenches for collars. The mid-C16 inserted floor comprises a transverse beam, 2 joggled longitudinal bridging beams, and square joists, all chamfered with step stops. The right bridging beam is offset to the rear, and there is no original jointing for joists in front of it, forming a large aperture which apparently was framed round a pre-existing timber chimney, which left the cross-entry unobstructed. A brick chimney was inserted c.1600, set further to the right to block the cross-entry, and the remaining aperture was filled by joists of vertical section supported at the front on pegged clamps. The right crosswing comprises 2 bays of normal size and a rear bay 1.22 metres long, designed as a smoke bay. Jowled posts, curved braces trenched outside heavy studding, originally jettied to the front; the upper storey has been cut back to align with the lower, and the gabled altered to a hip, probably in the C18. Diamond mortices and shutter grooves for unglazed windows in the right wall (2 at each storey, but replacement of part of one girt in 1986 has destroyed the evidence of one ground-floor window). Edge-halved and bridled scarfs in wallplates. Plain joists of horizontal section, longitudinal in front bay to support the former jetty, transverse in middle bay, jointed to the binding beam with unrefined soffit tenons. Blocked stair trap in middle bay. Rear bay originally open from ground to roof. Crownpost roof with axial braces of shallow curvature, the collar-purlin terminating at the crownpost in front of the smoke bay, heavily smoke-blackened throughout, indicating that the smoke bay was vented to both ends of the roof. The inserted stack later replaced this arrangement. The C17 extension to rear has primary straight bracing and a clasped purlin roof. The left crosswing has jowled posts, curved bracing trenched outside heavy studding, edge-halved and bridled scarfs in both wallplates, chamfered posts and wallplates with step stops. One complete unglazed window survives at the rear of the ground floor, with 3 diamond mullions set in a cross-member below the girt. Diamond mortices and shutter grooves of others at side and rear. Evidence of former doorway from hall to rear bay, with mortice for draught screen, and large-diameter pegs for former fixed bench in hall. Plain joists of horizonal section (with modern chamfers) jointed to binding beams mainly with unrefined soffit tenons, but in the front bay and around the framed stair trap in the rear bay soffit tenons with diminished haunches are used. The combination of both forms of jointing in the same floor structure is rare or unique, but both are original, which suggests a date of construction soon after 1510, when the newer form was superseding the older (C.A. Hewett, English Historic Carpentry, 1980, 279, 281-2, 287). The carpenter's assembly marks on the joists are in the Brentwood or cellular system (D.H. Scott, Brentwood Marking, Historic Buildings in Essex 3, November 1986, 22-3), from I to IIII in the front bay, V to VIII in the middle bay, VIIII to XII in the rear bay. Both internal tiebeams are cambered, chamfered with step stops, with mortices for 2 braces to the front tiebeam and one to the rear; the latter has inserted studding. Crownpost roof, now hipped at the front, with a gablet hip at the rear, hip rafters missing. One axial brace to the collar purlin in the middle bay, now matched by a C20 inserted brace; there are no mortices for other braces. This wing was formerly jettied to the front, cut back in the C18; some evidence of a former oriel below the jetty. In a major restoration of 1986-7 all groundsills and footings have been renewed, unstable stacks partly or wholly rebuilt, some re-used timber introduced to repair or complete the frame, and all external surfaces renewed. See measured drawings by Richard Shackle of Essex Historic Buildings Group, deposited with National Monuments Record and Essex Record Office. RCHM 3.

Listing NGR: TL8130726118

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

116321

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Hewett, C A, English Historic Carpentry, (1980)
Hewett, C A, English Historic Carpentry, (1980), 287
Scott, D H, Historic Buildings in Essex in Brentwood Marking, (1986), 22-3

End of official list entry

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