Description

BURES HAMLET WATER LANE
TL 9034
(east side)
5/51 (36/154) Secretaries Farmhouse (formerly
7.8.52 listed as "Secretaries")
GV II
Water Lane is wrongly shown on the O.S. map as Brook Street. House. C14 with
major alterations of the C18, and C19 extensions. Timber framed, facade of red
brick in Flemish bond, roughcast elsewhere, roofed with handmade red clay tiles.
Hall house, probably formerly aisled, facing S. One off-centre axial chimney
stack of C16 origin, rebuilt in C18. External chimney stacks at each end, C18.
Rear stair tower and closet wing, C18. Rear wings from each end, early C19.
Single-storey lean-to extension beyond stair tower, mid C19. 2 storeys. Ground
floor, 2 C19 french windows in original C18 apertures with flat brick arches,
central half-glazed door with marginal lights, early C19, in C18 doorcase with
reeded pilasters and broken pediment, with geometrical tracery in fanlight.
First floor, 2 pairs of C18 sashes of 12 lights, central Venetian window. Band
at first floor level. Wooden modillioned eaves cornice returned round side
walls. Hipped gablet roof. The ground floor comprises a large central entrance
hall and rooms to each side; fully plastered. One asymmetrical transverse beam
in entrance hall, one axial beam in right end, both boxed in. The roof of the
hall is of crownpost construction, the crownposts missing, the rafters and
collars heavily smoke-blackened. Some panels of wattle and daub in roof. The
stair has C18 twisted balusters, wide handrail and dado of pine, with minor
restoration. The house is shown in perspective in a finely drawn estate map of
1796 by John Kingsbury, in the possession of the owner. The front is shown as
at present, except that pairs of sashes occupied the positions of the present
french windows, as on the first floor, the fanlight had radial tracery, and
there were additional small windows each side of the door whose positions may
still be identified as late C18 alterations in the brick facade, removed when
the present entrance hall was formed. There was no wing to the right, and the
left rear wing was shown as of one storey.

Listing NGR: TL9045434050

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26415959

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)