Details
TL 72 SE STISTED KING'S LANE
(east side)
4/269 Jenkin's Farmhouse
- II
House. Late C14, altered in C16, C18 and C19, restored from c.1970. Timber
framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red plain tiles. 2-bay hall facing W,
and 2 bays remaining of an originally 3-bay parlour/solar crosswing to right
with C18 internal stack. Early C16 3-bay crosswing to left, replacing original
service bay, with 2 external stacks to left. C18 range to rear of hall and
right crosswing (parallel with hall) with internal stack near middle. Late C16
porch in front of left end of hall. 2 storeys, cellar and attic. Ground floor,
one C19 sash of 4 lights, 2 C20 casements. First floor, 4 C20 lights. Left
gable, 2 C20 lights. C20 double doors at front of gabled porch. Jowled posts,
heavy studding. The hall has a blocked original doorway with hollow-moulded
4-centred head at the right end of the rear wall, and a high inserted floor
comprising an axial beam and exposed joists of horizontal section supported on
pegged clamps, all chamfered with step stops. Early C19 straight stair with
wreathed mahogany handrail and stick balusters. On the first floor the studs of
the right end are heavily smoke-blackened, and the wattle and daub infill
survives complete, with an original round squint, a rare or unique feature. The
framing of the front wall has been covered by C20 oak firrings to the same
pattern. The walls have been raised and the roof rebuilt in the C18. The right
crosswing has an underbuilt jetty with wide plain brackets preserved in the
thickness of the wall, a studded partition at the rear, originally internal; the
rear bay has been rebuilt in the C18/19. The central tiebeam is missing; the
jowled posts for it have offset tenons, as illustrated in C.A. Hewett, English
Historic Carpentry, 1980, figure 281. C18/early C19 panelled window splays.
Edge-halved and bridled scarf in wallplate. On the upper left wall paintings of
the early C17 have survived, now covered by removable paint. The left crosswing
has a jetty at the front, chamfered and stopped axial and transverse beams,
chamfered and stopped joists of horizontal section arranged longitudinally in
the front bay, transversely in the other 2 bays, with an early inserted stair
trap at the left side of the rear bay. The stops are of step type, cut back
diagonally at the corners. The floor jointing is of soffit tenons with
diminished haunches. The letters IP in C17 style are branded into a right
wallpost. Grooves for sliding shutters. Crownpost roof with curved axial
braces 25mm thick. Edge-halved and bridled scarfs in wallplates and collar-
purlin. Chamfered square crownpost. On the left upper wall are floral
paintings, early C17, partly restored. Serpentine wall bracing trenched into
studs. In the cellar is a finely made ladder stair of oak, whose dimensions
suggest that it was originally the access to the upper storey of the right
crosswing, and therefore of late C14 date, a rare survival. The porch, although
now of one storey, is the surviving part of a former 2-storey structure, jettied
on 3 sides, the dragon beams chamfered with lamb's tongue stops, the common
joists missing. The room over the porch was entered from the upper room of the
left crosswing. The side walls retain symmetrically turned balusters. The
timber structure of the whole house has been comprehensively restored, 1970-86,
with new oak and craftsmanship of high quality, by the owner, R.D. Nixon; in
some places the original frame is covered by duplicate firrings. The farm is
recorded in a rent roll of 1483 (Essex Record Office D/DB, M.177), a survey of
1564 (D/DQ 28/1), the will of William Baisey, 1772, and a sale catalogue of the
Stisted Hall estate, 1893, at which time it comprised 234 acres. RCHM 17.
Listing NGR: TL7865323950
