The Golden Fleece Inn

Details

BRENTWOOD

TQ59SE LONDON ROAD, South Weald 723-1/8/287 (North side) 21/10/58 The Golden Fleece Inn

II*

House now public house. c1400, early C16, C18, C19, C20. Timber-framed and plastered, peg-tiled roofs. H-plan with C18 and C19 rear and end additions. EXTERIOR: 2 storey. Front S, elevation, central range with flanking, jettied cross-wings of unequal size, W small, E larger. Central rectangular stack and stack with 4 diagonal shafts at junction with W cross-wing, also similar stack of 3 shafts, partly rendered, on E side of E cross-wing. Inner plain stack through roof of W cross-wing. Plain parapet on central range. Ground floor, E-W, jettty with part of original bressumer, moulded with hollow and roll. Early C19 canted bay window, horned sashes with glazing bars, 2x4, 4x4, 2x4 panes, early C19 horned sash window with glazing bars, 4x4 panes with moulded architrave. Central C20 door, boarded and battened with with upper lozenge light. Early C20 casement in earlier frame, glazing bars, 4x4 panes. Old doorway (on cross passage site) now a fixed window with glazing bars, 4x4 panes. W cross-wing jetty with C18 cornice and early C20 bay window with glazing bars, 5x5 panes. Lean-to out-shut with early C20 fixed window with glazing bars, 3x3 panes. First floor, E-W, cross-wing has triple sash window with glazing bars, 1x4, 3x4, 1x4 panes, small fixed light in roof space above. Central range, 2 early C19 sash windows with glazing bars, 4x4 panes. W cross-wing C18 cornice and Venetian sash window, 1x4, 3x4, 1x4 panes. Rear has considerable C20 work butted onto old block and not to be included in this listing. Rear of centre range has C18 infilling between cross-wings consisting of 3 equal units, each with a hipped and peg-tiled roof and a 2-light casement window with glazing bars, 4x2 panes. E cross-wing has a fixed light in roof space and W cros-wing has a plain first floor 2-light casement window. E end elevation ahs a projecting stack with old bricks, c1600, below rebuilt shafts. First floor, N end, early C19 sash window with moulded architrave, glazing bars, 3x4 panes. C20 shed, stair and rear addition. W end. First floor, S end small doorway. To N C18 addition. First floor, one 2-light and one 4-light casement window, both early C20. Considerable C20 additions masking old structure. INTERIOR: timber structure exposed and of 2 periods: (1) W cross-wing with crown post roof to 2-bayed upper chamber, tie-beam cambered, crown post 4-way braced, c1400, very short base and capital merge. Remains of single mullioned window on E side of upper chamber masked by later addition of hall. (2) early C16 open hall and E cross-wing, both of similar high style with deep arched braced trusses, stabilised by spur ties from principal posts. Hall central truss different having queen posts on a tie-beam with intermediate arched bracing to a slightly cambered collar. The arched braces descended to curved corbels on the centre posts and were in 2 joined sections to gain depth. Clasped side purlins and ogee curved wind braces support the roof rafters. E cross-wing has a 2-bayed front upper chamber with the deep arched braces rising to a well cambered collar (no upper structure). Clasped side purlin roof has ogee wind braces on E pitch and simple compassed braces on W. Rear 2 bays of E cross-wing of similar construction with plain queen posts on tie-beams. Other features of hall and E cross-wing include close studding with exterior tension bracing and principal membersrichly moulded with double ogee and hollow, half rolls and cyma. Domestic features include 2 original doorways, with 4-centred arched heads, from hall to E and W cross-wings and a doorway at each end of the rear of the hall. 2 similar doorways remain in the rear section of the E cross-wing on ground and first floors. Spacing of principal decorated posts on the front of the hall block indicated the site of the hall window and confirm the door evidence, that the E end was the 'high' end of the building. Shutter groove and peg evidence at the front of the E cross-wing indicates the existence of large windows on the ground and first floor. Fireplaces are all rebuilt but in the hall and E cross-wing they remain in original position. HISTORICAL NOTE: the high level of construction in phase (2) providing a remarkable 4-bayed open hall and cross-wing of similar status, has caused local historians to speculate as to whether the improvements were done by Waltham Abbey to provide a court house on their land in order to draw prestige and trade away from Brentwood, which was held by St Osyth's Abbey. If so it was added to an earlier existing building, the W cross-wing. (RCHM: Central and SW Essex : Monument 5: 217; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Essex: 1965-: 361).

Listing NGR: TQ5777892916

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

373495

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
An Inventory of Essex Central and South West, (1921), 217
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Essex, (1965), 361

End of official list entry

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