Details
BRENTWOOD
TQ68NW LITTLE WARLEY HALL LANE
723-1/11/224 Little Warley
21/10/58 Little Warley Hall
(Formerly Listed as:
WARLEY HALL LANE, Little Warley
Little Warley Hall)
II*
Formerly known as: Little Warley Hall HALL LANE.
Hall and service unit of a larger building (once extending to
the W) now a house. Early C16, c1600, C20. Red brick with
diaper work in black burnt headers in essentially English
bond, peg-tile roof (some C20 flat tile repairs), stack
intruded through apex towards W end. Rectangular plan.
EXTERIOR: 2 storey and attic. All windows of the house are C20
with wooden mullioned and transomed frames and lattice panes.
N front elevation early C16 hall and upper chamber block.
Reduced service bay to E with hipped roof now abutting end
wall of upper chamber. N front elevation of hall dominated by
projecting 2-storeyed porch to cross passage at E end and
lateral chimney-stack central to hall. String course between
ground and first floor. Porch has 2-centred doorway with
moulded brick square hood-mould, C20 door, diagonally boarded
with studs and strap hinges. Porch first floor, original
window opening partially blocked with smaller windows of 3
lights, hood mould as over door, crow stepped gable above.
Lateral stack has canted sides. 2 circular stacks with zigzag
decoration, bell bases with trefoil corbel table, one plain
square stack behind at roof apex. Hall and upper chamber, 2
windows each, one each side of the stack. Three 3-light, one
4-light. 2 lines of straight jointing of the brickwork through
both floors to the W of the stack suggest rebuilding of the
hall and chamber round the originally largest windows at the
high end. Service bay, ground floor has original window
opening with chamfered brickwork, now with 3-light window,
above on first floor, C20 2-light window. To E, C20 single
storey link and cross-wing block, not of special interest and
not included in this listing. Rear, S elevation, hall and
chamber block has a full height C19 battered brick buttress
added on SW corner. Off centre, to E, projecting garderobe
tower with diaper work rising to the upper chamber, arched
opening, now blocked at ground level, roof pitch continuous
with main roof, small fixed window on upper floor. Large areas
of walling to the W of the garderobe, where diapering absent,
and burnt headers randomly distributed, suggest considerable
later rebuilding. Ground floor, to E, original rectangular
rear cross-passage door opening, double chamfer moulded with
original wooden moulded head of door frame. Doorway now has
C20 French windows in similar style to other windows of house,
similar French window at W end. Each side of garderobe tower,
one 3-light, one 2-light window. First floor has three 3-light
windows. W elevation, one 3-light window on each floor,
brickwork different on upper floor, a rebuilding in Flemish
bond. Ground floor brickwork has wooden, inserted blocks
horizontally at intervals, perhaps for attaching panelling to
walls of solar room now demolished. E elevation mainly
obscured, attic window in gable.
INTERIOR: hall and cross-entry division apparent. Inner porch
doorway has square door frame in brick and timber with rich
moulding (roll in hollow, cyma and hollow chamfers) 4-centred
arched doorhead with rose and molet in spandrels. Interior
spandrels decorated with shields of arms. One 4-centred arched
service door exposed with deep mouldings (double ogee with
high stop), spandrels decorated with a rose and a shield.
Ground-floor hall has high ceiling with roll moulded cornice,
principal and common joists board panelled between, also,
central to original hall length, large fireplace with
4-centred arch and double ogee mouldings, spandrels have
foliage and shield decoration. A second door, similar to the
service door leads from hall to parlour area. First floor
chamber was apparently as ornate at the hall - the high
cornice remains, similar in style. A newel staircase, c1600,
having flat balusters with raking mouldings, moulded handrail
and square moulded newels is set within the hall area,
immediately to the W of the garderobe tower. The hall ceiling
has been cut away to accommodate it and secondary internal
partitioning surrounds it. There are 3 re-set and partly
reworked original C16 doorways giving hall-stair and first
floor access. Also the upper end of the hall has been divided
off by a cross wall, probably C19, that carries the stack
intruded through the roof. Until the late C19, a N facing
double gabled early C17 plaster fronted range extended to the
W (painting held by owner). The house has been restored a
number of times. It is probable that the early C17 stair has
been repositioned in the C19 subdivision of the 2 ground floor
rooms and may have come from the C17 western range, now gone.
The service bay has been considerably altered but the original
end-braced axial first floor joist with common plain joists
mortices is exposed.
(VCH: 176; RCHM: SE Essex : Monument 2: 90; The Buildings of
England: Pevsner N: Essex: 1965-: 286).
Listing NGR: TQ6043288571
