Description

MALDON

TL8407SE HIGH STREET
574-1/6/75 (South side)
02/10/51 No.38
Kings Head Hotel

GV II

Hotel. C15, C16, C18 and later. Substantially timber-framed,
part rendered, part painted brick and part weatherboarded.
Variety of roofs with plain tiles.
PLAN: complex plan form with range to frontage and a series of
extensions to the rear.
EXTERIOR: front of painted brick is substantially 2-storeyed
with a 3-storey wing to the east. The 2-storeyed part has a
roof parallel to the street which is hipped to the west and
abutts the 3-storey wing to the east. A substantial stack of
T-plan form, but with a curious rendered recess, rises from
the junction of the blocks. A plain parapet to the lower block
is slightly stepped and locates a projecting, flat roofed
dormer with 9-pane sash.
The western part of the facade is slightly recessed and has 2
segmental-headed 12-pane sashes on the 1st floor. The ground
floor here has a slightly bowed oriel with flat roof and
16-pane sash. The 1st floor of the projecting part has a
segmental-headed blind recess and two 12-pane sashes. The
ground floor has a similar, vertically aligned, blind recess,
a square oriel bow with 16-pane sash window and a projecting
Tuscan porch with thin painted timber Tuscan columns and
pilaster responds; door with 6 raised-and-fielded panels and
rectangular Gothick fanlight. Elaborate hanging sign with
wrought-iron bracket on 1st floor. The 3-storeyed part
projects slightly and has a roof hipped to the front behind a
plain parapet. The 2nd floor has a central segmental-headed
9-pane sash window; a canted bay rises through the lower 2
storeys and has a flat roof with at 1st floor a small paned,
asymmetrical, tripartite sash and on the ground floor a pair
of linked 12-pane sashes.
The east flank, of 3 storeys, is of painted weatherboarding
and the roof returns to a hip at the rear. On the second floor
is a 12-pane sash window. The ground floor, here, has 2 door
openings and one sash with margin glazing and one sash with
central vertical glazing bars.
The rear of the 3-storeyed wing has a French window at
2nd-floor level leading to a C20 metal fire escape. The 1st
floor has a tripartite sash with single vertical glazing bars.
To the rear of this block is a C20 flat-roofed extension with

canted faces, linking to a rendered 2-storey block placed
parallel, but to the rear, of the main range; this has a plain
tile roof and a substantial stack through its northern roof
slope. A long rear extension range runs down the western
boundary of the site and links with the above block; the
northernmost part of this is of 2 low storeys of C19 red brick
with C20 windows. The plain tile roof has 2 differing
ridgelines, the southernmost part having been altered. To the
rear of this is a C20 single-storey block of red brick with
machine-made plain tile roof.
INTERIOR: the oldest surviving part is the frontage range
which has remnants of timber-framing of a pair of
semi-detached Wealden-type houses, each formerly consisting of
a floored bay and a single-bay hall. The hall and westernmost
part of one cross-wing are missing and their site is now part
of the adjoining building. The nature of the development and
relatively poor quality timber suggests a speculative
development of the early to mid C15. An early C17 inglenook
stack now backs onto the former intruded cross-passage of the
eastern unit and this has an upper part with moulded corbel
course of the late C17.
The frontage range was raised in the early C19 and some of the
C15 rafters reused. The superimposed eastern wing is of early
C19 softwood framing. The 2-storeyed range fronting the
western boundary contains a 2-bay structure of the late C16
with central, deep collared A-frame truss and a mixture of
internal and external wall bracing. To the rear of this is a
probable mid C17 two-bay block. At right angles is an early
C19 block incorporating reused material from the old rear
walls of the Wealden range. The eastern first-floor chamber of
the frontage range has late C16 wall-painting consisting of an
arcade of blue/grey paint over studs and infill.
In the main range, a late C18 staircase survives with column
newels, barleysugar-twist balusters and hardwood handrail.
This is continued to the attics by an early C19 stair with
stick balusters. On the 1st floor of the main range are some
C18 panelled partitions and contemporary doors and
architraves. A 1st-floor room has an early C19 corner cupboard
with doors, arch-headed recess on pilasters and serpentine
shelves. A room in the 3-storeyed wing has a fireplace with
shouldered architrave.
(RCHME: Essex Central and South-west: London: 1921-: 174:14).

Listing NGR: TL8495907022

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26548346

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)