Details
TL 7714 TERLING CHURCH GREEN
(north-west side)
11/115 Vine Cottage and Church
View
GV II*
House, now 2 cottages. Early C14, altered in C15, C16, C18 and C20. Timber
framed, plastered, roofed mainly with handmade red clay tiles, partly with
slate. 2-bay aisled hall, both aisles present, facing SE, with inserted stack
in left bay against front wall. 2-bay crosswing to left, with C19 external
stack and C19 2-storey extension to left of it. C17/C18 one-bay extension to
rear of crosswing, with C19 external stack at end, and lean-to extension in
right rear angle, forming a catslide with the crosswing roof, with C19 internal
stack. 3-bay crosswing to right of hall with lean-to extension forming a
catslide to right, and C20 single-storey extension at rear right corner.
Lean-to extension to rear of hall, forming a catslide with it; this is slated.
Both crosswing roofs have gablet hips at the rear. Crosswings of 2 storeys,
hall of one storey with attics. Ground floor, 3 early C20 casements, one C20
splayed bay below jetty of right crosswing. First floor, 2 similar casements,
one more in gabled dormer, and one C20 casement. Both crosswings jettied to the
front; 2 plain brackets exposed below left jetty. One C20 door at left end of
hall (Vine Cottage), one plain boarded door below jetty of right crosswing
(Church View). The upper part of the inserted stack has been rebuilt in the
C20, retaining an inscription '1613 R.T.' in moulded brick in a recessed panel.
The transverse beam of the inserted floor projects through the front wall of the
hall at eaves level. The wallplates of both crosswings project through the
plaster. The interiors are mainly plastered, but sufficient of the frame is
visible to indicate significant differences of construction between the aisled
hall and the 2 crosswings and successive phases of building. The arcade posts
are unjowled. The rear arcade plate of the hall is visible in a cupboard of
'Vine Cottage', the brace to it removed; the remainder is enclosed. The front
arcade plate is exposed across the top of the dormer, covered elsewhere.
Doubled straight square bracing to the central tiebeam is visible from the roof.
The roof is of simple collar-rafter construction, heavily smoke-blackened in the
left bay, rebuilt in softwood in the right bay. These features, particularly
the bracing, suggest a construction date for the hall in the early C14 or
earlier. An axial bridging beam in 'Church View', chamfered with step stops,
indicates that the floor was inserted before c.1570. A wide wood-burning hearth
facing right, reduced for a C20 grate, has been inserted so as to leave the
original cross-entry unobstructed (now the entrance-hall of 'Vine Cottage'); the
doorways are not visible. The date 1613 may refer to a late alteration to the
stack, or to the replacement of a timber-framed chimney (built before c.1570) by
a brick stack. There is a dado of early C17 oak panelling in the right bay of
the hall (in 'Church View'). The left crosswing has a complete crownpost roof,
with cambered central tiebeam, short cross-quadrate crownpost of large section
with broach stops and 4 rising braces. Little else of the structure is exposed,
but the roof indicates that this crosswing is later than the hall, probably late
C14. The right crosswing is constructed from the outset in 2 long bays and one
short bay at the rear; the ground-floor partition between the middle and rear
bays is exposed, with widely spaced studding and a doorway with 4-centred head.
The roof is of plain collar-rafter construction. The doorhead indicates a C15
date, although the roof has more in common with the hall roof. This house is of
exceptional historic interest in that aisled halls retaining both aisles are
rare, and those mainly of manorial status. Here the small size and context
indicate a lower status, probably of merchant origin. The apparent association
with the parish church is misleading, for another street of houses existed in
front of it until c.1843, but it may originally have faced on to a market place.
A market and fair were established in Terling by 1331, which date is just
compatible with the earliest part of this house. (W. Walker, Essex Markets and
Fairs, Essex Record Office, 1981, 34). RCHM 8.
Listing NGR: TL7727314878
