Description

KELVEDON CHURCH STREET
TL 8418-8518 (north-east side)

9/144 No. 1 (Old Timbers)
21.12.67

GV II

House. C15 and early C16, altered in C20. Timber framed, plastered with
exposed framing (including C20 replacement), roofed with handmade red plain
tiles. C15 2-bay hall facing SW, with early C16 stack at right end in front of
axis. Early C16 3-bay crosswing to right, extending to rear. C20 external
stack and C20 single-storey lean-to extension to left of rear bay of crosswing.
Hall of one storey with attic, crosswing of 2 storeys. Ground floor, one C20
casement, and one splayed bay of C20 casements below jetty of crosswing, adapted
from earlier shop window. First floor, one C20 casement, and one more in gabled
dormer. 2 plain boarded doors. 2 plain brackets below jetty. Cambered tiebeam
of crosswing moulded at each end, plain in the middle, indicating a former
oriel. Much of the exposed framing of the hall is C20 replacement. That of the
crosswing is mainly original, with replaced timbers round the first-floor
window. Close studding, with curved tension braces trenched to the outside.
Stack rebuilt above roof level. A photograph in RCHM shows the house plastered,
with the same dormer, and others abutting to the left, since demolished. Most
of the wall framing of the hall has been replaced. Early C17 inserted floor,
comprising 2 transverse beams and plain joists of vertical section, with much
C20 replacement. Some rebated hardwood floorboards in left bay, fixed with C20
nails. Original smoke-blackened rafters and collars of a crownpost roof, the
collar-purlin and crownposts missing. The ground level has risen considerably,
outside and inside. The frame of the crosswing is substantially complete and
original. Jowled posts, 2 chamfered binding beams with step stops, joists of
horizontal section, hollow-moulded in the front and middle bays (except below
the stair), plain in the rear bay. The present stair at the rear of the middle
bay occupies the same position as the original stair, with minor enlargement of
the trap. The joists are jointed to the binding beams with central tenons with
housed soffits, scribed to the profile of the moulding where appropriate. The
lower storey was originally unpartitioned; original studded partition between
the middle and rear bays in the upper storey. Unglazed window complete with 3
diamond mullions and groove for sliding shutter to right of middle bay of ground
floor, in exceptionally good condition because it has been blocked externally
since soon after construction. Diamond mortices and shutter grooves for other
unglazed windows in upper storey in front and rear bays of right wall, and at
rear. Cambered tiebeam between front and rear bays with 2 chamfered arched
braces 0.10 metre wide. Butt-purlin roof with arched collar and curved
wind-bracing. Slightly splayed and bridled scarf in left wallplate. Early C16
wood-burning hearths back to back, in hall and crosswing. That in the crosswing
has a chamfered mantel beam with quadrant curves in the soffit at each end now
embedded in the brickwork, indicating some alteration. That in the hall has
chamfered jambs, a similar mantel beam with cranked top, and above, 3
hollow-moulded niches with 4-centred heads. One similar niche in rear of stack.
C17/18 plank and muntin partition of pine on the first floor of the crosswing,
between the front and middle bays, with original doorway through, a rare feature
meriting special care. This house abuts closely against nos. 1-5 High Street to
the right; the 3 unglazed windows in the right wall indicate that this house was
on the site first. There are close similarities of construction between the
crosswing and nos. 1-5 High Street (item 9/159, q.v.): (1) the unusual type of
scarf, (2) the roof construction, rare in Essex at this period, (3) the hearths
with niches, (4) the bricks of which they are built, identical with those
recorded in the original cellar of no. 3 High Street. The similarities indicate
that both were built by the carpenters of the Abbot of Westminster, and that
little time elapsed between them, the smaller house in Church Street determining
how far the SW wing of the larger building could extend. RCHM 6.

Listing NGR: TL8589818430

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26416903

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets