Details
INGATESTONE AND FRYERNING
TL60SW MILL GREEN COMMON
723-1/2/410 Richards Cottage
II
House. Early C15, extended in C20. Timber-framed, plastered,
roofed with handmade red clay tiles. 2-bay service cross-wing
facing SW, of a former hall-house extending to the SE of which
the remainder is missing. C16/early C17 internal stack in
right side of front bay. One-bay extension to rear, of
narrower span, aligning on the left side, with C18 external
stack to left, truncated about 2m above ground. 2 storeys. C20
extension of one storey with attics to right of rear
extension, and C20 single-storey extension to rear, the whole
forming an irregular T-plan.
The 2-bay cross-wing is jettied to the front, with one
original plain bracket and one introduced grown knee in place
of a bracket, and two C20 posts supporting the corners of the
jetty. All windows are C20 casements. C20 door in right side
of rear wing. Original wide rafters and sprockets are exposed
below the left eaves. The right wall of the 2-bay cross-wing
is faced with plastered brickwork to first-floor level. The
roof of the cross-wing has a gablet hip at the rear, and the
roof of the rear extension also has a gablet hip.
INTERIOR: the cross-wing has jowled posts and heavy studding
at 0.75m centres with curved tension braces trenched to the
outside; some studs of the lower storey have been replaced.
The rear girt has been replaced, and the studs below it,
omitted. Plain joists of horizontal section, jointed to the
binding beam with unrefined central tenons; the binding beam
has mortices and a wattle groove for a former partition
between the service bays. A post hollow-chamfered on one side,
and 2 hollow-chamfered 4-centred doorheads have been moved
from their original positions and re-assembled behind the
chimney, the front doorhead now at the rear; post and one
doorhead repaired. Large wood-burning hearth with 0.33m jambs,
the rear jamb repointed with cement mortar; some alteration at
the rear of the hearth, perhaps indicating the removal of
another hearth back to back with the one remaining; mantel
beam replaced; cast-iron fireback with the arms of Charles I,
reported to be in situ. Groove for shutter visible below the
jetty. On the first floor, in the left wall is a blocked
unglazed window with one diamond mullion; no visible evidence
of shuttering arrangement. Tie-beam at front replaced and
plastered over. Cambered central tie-beam with 2 arched braces
0.10m wide, rebated into the jowls. Original collar-rafter
roof. The rear extension appears to be of the same date as the
cross-wing, removed at an early date from its original site
and rebuilt in its present position. Its span is only 3m,
compared with the 4.27m span of the cross-wing, its wallplates
are lower, and it is not structurally integrated, as a
designed extension would be; it may be the parlour/solar bay
of the missing hall range. The lower studs of the rear wall
have been removed; 2 diamond mortices of an original unglazed
window are exposed, 0.07m square. The remaining studs, and the
pegging for missing studs, are at the same wide spacing as in
the cross-wing. In the upper right wall an unglazed window has
been inserted between 2 studs which retain the wattle fixings
of the former infill. It comprises 2 diamond mullions 0.05m
square properly housed into a sill, which is lapped and nailed
to the studs, but the mullions are not housed into the
wallplate. The floor is plastered to the soffit. A mortice in
the left girt probably indicates the position of a former
stair trap. The roof is plastered to the soffit but original
rafters are exposed at the right, cut off against the
wallplate; they have gauging holes.
HISTORICAL NOTE: this house was named Boxwood Cottage until
recent years, but is well documented under the name Richards
in the Petre archives. A survey of 1556 described it as 33
feet long, 15 feet wide, and 8 feet high to the eaves, with a
tiled roof; the holding had an orchard, 2 crofts and a grove
of 8 acres, which implies that it was more concerned with the
local pottery and tile industry than with agriculture. The
Walker map of 1601 shows it as having a low hall range with
central door and chimney, one window to each side, and a
gabled 2-storey cross-wing to the right, with tiled roofs -
apparently a left-right reversal of the house as indicated by
the physical evidence (Essex Record Office). Stripped to the
frame and altered by John Amor, Architect, in 1970.
(Essex Record Office: D/DP M.170: 8).
Listing NGR: TL6422401776
