Details
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TL 8418-8518
9/141
KELVEDON
CHURCH STREET (north-east side)
Red House
2.5.53
GV
II*
House. C13 and C16, altered in C17, C18 and early C19. Timber framed, mainly faced with red brick in Flemish bond, some rat-trap bond, with dressings of gault brick and plaster, partly plastered, roofed with handmade red plain tiles.
Complex plan forming an irregular half-H, comprising: (1) hall range, originally aisled, facing south west; the front aisle is missing, the rear aisle is present in residual form, incorporated in rear extensions; C16/17 axial stack to left of centre, and C18 stack in front left corner, (2) C16 wing at left end of hall range, set back from front and extending to rear, with internal stack at rear right, (3) early C19 ballroom extension to rear of it, with external stack at right, (4) C16 rear wing at right end of hall range, with internal stack at the junction, (5) C16/17 service wing beyond, with internal stack, (6) minor C18-C20 single-storey extensions on both sides of it and beyond it, (7) C16/17 stair tower in rear right angle, (8) small extension to left of stair tower, incorporating corridor link diagonally across left rear angle, (9) single-storey lean-to corridor to right of left wing.
Two storeys, cellar and attics. Symmetrical facade in Flemish bond, breaking forward in the middle. 1:3:1 window range, mainly of C18 sashes of twelve lights, the middle window enlarged in the early C19 to ten + fifteen lights, all with flat arches of gauged red brick; some crown glass. Central six-panel door in Ionic doorcase with two engaged columns, panelled jambs and soffit, pulvinated frieze and dentilled flat canopy. Four giant pilasters of gault brick with plaster capitals. Dentilled and moulded plaster cornice and pediment. Plain parapet. Round window in pediment, edged with gault brick. The front of the left wing is faced with red brick in rat-trap bond, with one C2O casement on the first floor; the left elevation has an underbuilt jetty, with some joists of horizontal section exposed.
C18 facade on garden elevation to right, with C18 and early C19 sashes and plain parapet. The interior is comprehensively styled in the late C17 and early C18, with early C19 alterations in the entrance-hall and elsewhere. White marble fire surrounds. Six-panel and four-panel doors. Panelled folding shutters. Late C17 and early C18 pine panelling in most rooms, some bolection-moulded. Late C17 open-well staircase with turned and twisted balusters, square newels, closed string and moulded pine handrails.
The original timber structure is almost wholly concealed by panelling and plaster, except: (1) an exposed arcade-post to the rear of the front right ground-floor room, arranged the same way up as the tree from which it came,with a mortice for a rear aisle tie, (2) a partly exposed arcade-post in a cupboard off the diagonal corridor link, (3) a partly exposed wall post to right of the stair tower. From these posts and the dimensions of the present building it appears that the aisled hall structure is 40 feet (12.19 m) long, with a mainspan of 16 feet (4.88 m) and a rear aisle 4 feet (1.22 m) wide.
The house is set back from the road, allowing sufficient space for the former front aisle: The upright arrangement of the first arcade post indicates unjowled tying-joints, unlikely to be much later than mid-C13. Other parts of the original timber frame are probably present within the later surfaces, meriting special care; the roof is wholly plastered internally, but may retain early structure.
The manor of Church Hall was held by the Abbot of Westminster from before the Conquest to 1539, when it passed to the Bishop of Westminster, and from 1550 to the Bishop of London. It was leaded from 1553, first to John Wakering of Lincoln's Inn, associated with the Wakerings of Great Wakering, Essex, and then to the St. John family (P. Morant, The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex, 1768, II, 150).
The size of the house and its position 130 metres from the parish church leave little doubt that this was the manor house of Church Hall built for the Abbot of Westminster before the later C13. RCHM 5 (there wrongly described as Lawn Cottage, based on a misreading of the 25" O.S map. Formerly named Red Mansion).
Listing NGR: TL8578018515
