Walletts

Details

BRENTWOOD

TQ5890 GREAT WARLEY STREET, Great Warley 723-1/17/146 (West side) 20/02/76 Walletts

GV II

House. Early C16, late C16, c1900. Timber-framed, peg-tile roof. H-plan hall house, facing E with additional rear stair tower. Extensive L-shaped wing of c1900 added to SW corner not of special interest and not included in this listing. EXTERIOR: E front re-faced in building phase of c1900 - timber-framing provided with covering boards. Present appearance though shows form of structure. 2 gabled cross-wings of 2 storeys, jettied, with hall in between of one storey and attic cruciform stack (c1600 but restored) towards S end of hall with rebuilt cross passage door in line. Framing of cross-wings indicated on first floor. Ground floors rendered over. 2 phases of medieval construction (1) N cross-wing is oldest, early C16 with wide set studding, tension bracing and foot bracing to a crown-post. (2) c1600, S cross-wing, closer studding indicated, no external bracing and a queen post roof - also voids in framing for a frieze window. Hall framing indeterminate but no doubt contemporary with phase (1) with full medieval arrangement of cross passage. All windows of the house are c1900 with oak frames, metal casements and leaded panes. Front, E elevation, ground floor, S cross-wing and hall have windows of 4 lights, N cross-wing window of 3 lights, first floor, S wing 4-light window, hall has attic 2-light window and N wing 3-light window. Rear W elevation, S cross-wing masked by c1900 work. N cross-wing and hall visible, also stair tower, in line with stack. N cross-wing, very similar framing to E front with c1900 stack in red brick on centre line with ground floor extension of brickwork to N edge with included narrow single-light window. Second single light window to S of stack. Hall, upper framing indicated, including broader member at site of central truss. c1900 boarded door under `Tudor' arched head, 2-light window. Stair tower with roof hipped to rear, ground floor 2-light window, first floor with indicated framing and 2-light window. S end elevation, S wing with broader posts at bay intervals - 3 bays - also corner tension bracing. Ground floor rendered over with c1900 boarded door with `Tudor' arched door head, one 4-light window and one 1-light. First floor, one 3-light and 1 single-light casement. N end elevation, N wing, ground floor rendered except for storey post left visible. First floor framing indicated and similar to front with central 2-light window. INTERIOR: hall has posts of central truss with deep mortices for missing rising arched braces and simple stopped chamfers, also straight doorheads for doors of c1600 - present cross-passage door re-instated to original position c1900. High end cross wall has joints for display arched bracing and peg holes for a bench. 2 quasi-service door arches inserted c1900 into this frame (at wrong end of hall). Back-to-back fireplaces in hall and S cross-wing of c1600, brick with timber lintels, modified c1900. Hall has inserted ceiling, probably of same time or a little later integrated into stack, deep section joists with pendant soffits and bridging joist of reused timber. S cross-wing ground-floor room has oak panelling, well fitted but missing the frieze - first floor, only wall plates and tie-beams exposed. N cross-wing - ground floor has original binding joist, first floor principal outer framing only seen with central truss having arched braces to tie-beam, crown post through present ceiling, base with broach stopped chamfers. Carpenters' marks and candle/rush-light burn marks also present in the house. Stair tower has well made dogleg stair of c1600 with shaped handrail, acorn finials on newel posts, turned banisters and decorated strings with arabesques and parallelogram panels. HISTORICAL NOTE: the house demonstrates clearly the modifications typical in house development in the late C16 and early C17 in which, in Essex, stacks were inserted in the cross passage with back-to-back fireplaces. Sometimes the entry doors were re-positioned as at Wallets, where the re-siting of the rear door brought in in line with the then newly built stair tower to serve the upper room, including the new one created in the hall area by dividing it horizontally. Walletts forms a group with other buildings around the green. (RCHM: Central and SW Essex : Monument 4: 62; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Essex: 1965-: 213).

Listing NGR: TQ5832390639

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

373442

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
An Inventory of Essex Central and South West, (1921), 62
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Essex, (1965), 213

End of official list entry

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