Kings Hill
KINGS HILL, 17, EAST STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1322381
- Date first listed:
- 15-May-1968
- List Entry Name:
- Kings Hill
- Statutory Address:
- KINGS HILL, 17, EAST STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2003-02-21
- Reference:
- IOE01/08354/09
- Rights:
- © Mrs Angela Clark. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1322381
- Date first listed:
- 15-May-1968
- List Entry Name:
- Kings Hill
- Statutory Address 1:
- KINGS HILL, 17, EAST STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- KINGS HILL, 17, EAST STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Essex
- District:
- Rochford (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Rochford
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 87738 90619
Details
ROCHFORD EAST STREET TQ 8790 NE (north side) 15/204 No. 17(Kings Hill) 15.5.68 GV II House. Circa 1300 or earlier origin with later alterations and additions. Timber framed and rough rendered. Plaster rose to eastern gable. Red plain tiled roofs. T plan with additional ranges to north. Central red brick panelled chimney stack to east range, exterior stack to south of west range. One storey and attics or 2 storeys. The eastern range, south face, 3 window range of various vertically sliding sashes and casements, that to ground floor left an angled bay. Lean-to porch to south east of west range with C20 door. Of complex plan, the roof of the eastern range is of simple 2 armed crown post construction. There is a splayed scarf with undersquinted abuttments to the north wall top plate. Back to back inglenook fireplace. Stop chamfered ceiling beams to inserted ceilings. C18 cupboard. The western range has been much altered and its age is uncertain. The Whispering Court Post stands in the garden approx. 4 metres south of the south wall of the house, the south face is dated KH 1867, the east face 1340 and the north face has a plaque relating restoration November 1935. The date of origin of the Whispering Court is unknown, but it is believed to have been held at Kings Hill, Rayleigh during the reign of Henry III, 1216-1272. Said to have originated when a normally absentee Manorial Lord returned home and heard, at midnight unsuspecting tenants plotting to murder him. As penance for their treachery they were commanded to assemble at Kings Hill, annually on the Wednesday after Michaelmas at midnight to do homage for their lands in a whisper. Morant says the time is "upon the first cock-crowing; without any light but such as the heavens will afford". It is believed Robert Riche, second Earl of Warwick moved the Court to Kings Hill, Rochford, nearer his home Rochford Hall. The Deeds of the Manor of Kings Hill stipulate that the post must never be removed. In the C18 a feast was held at The Kings Head before the tenants set off for the Whispering Court. L.E. Jerram-Burrows "Rochford Remembers" 1983. P. Morant History of the County of Essex 1763-8. Nos 1 and 2 Kings Hills Cottages q.v. were probably part of the homestead.
Listing NGR: TQ8773890619
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 123195
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Morant, P, The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex, (1768)
Burrows, L E Jerram, Rochford Remembered, (1983)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 24-Jun-2026 at 20:22:57.
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