Description

INGATESTONE AND FRYERNING
TQ6499 HIGH STREET, Ingatestone
723-1/14/400 (South East side)
29/12/52 The Bell Inn
(Formerly Listed as:
BRENTWOOD
HIGH STREET, Ingatestone
(South East side)
The Bell Inn)

GV II

Public house. Early C15, late C15, early C17, C19.
Timber-framed, plastered and weatherboarded, peg and C20
Clay-tiled roof. T-plan, principal range parallel to street
with rear central right angled wing.
EXTERIOR: 2 storey. N front elevation, continuous jetty with
angle-post and brace to dragon-beam for end wall jetty at E
end. End jetty now masked by C20 extension. C17 principal
stack of 4 plain separate diagonally set shafts off centre
towards E end - some rebuilding. Second stack through front
roof pitch at W end. Ground floor C20 doorway in front of
principal stack with simple bracketed flat hood, moulded
doorcase and narrow side and top light round doorway. Door,
boarded with upper glazing - glazing bars 2x3 panes, three C19
three cant bay windows all sashes with glazing bars. E-W 5x4
panes, 3x4, 4x4 all side cants of 2x4 panes. W bay window
flanked by a jetty bracket each side, one to W carefully
chamfered. Small C20 single storeyed unit added at E and W
ends. E has top hung casement window with glazing bars 3x3
panes. First floor 4 similar early C19 sash windows, moulded
architraves, glazing bars 4x4 panes. Bressumer has double
ovolo-moulded facia board, early C17 in part. Also, deep plain
save board, partly obscures first-floor window heads. Rear S
elevation, central plan gable end of S wing with further small
ground-floor projection, also plan: To E principal block,
ground floor weatherboarded with rear doorway, simple version
of front door, side lights to E side only, door similar to
that on front. Adjacent 2-light casement window with glazing
bars, 2x2 panes, to W, small C20 ground-floor unit, flat
roofed. First floor, C20 2-light casement windows with glazing
bars 2x2 panes. E of central wing, C19 ground-floor projection
to E from wing encloses a small ya_~~within, rear of
principal range-ground floor weatnerboarded with C20 glazed
door glazing bars, 2x4 panes. First floor plastered, early C19
sliding sash window (frame now simplified) with glazing bars
4x3 panes -also, C20 casement window with glazing bars 2x3
panes. E end C20 ground floor situation (masking jetty) has 2
simple metal-framed casement windows. Rear wing, E face to
yard, early C18 triple shouldered stack, some burnt headers,
adjacent broad C18 2-panelled door, C20 lean-to tiled porch in
internal angle of principal range and wing. To E of rear wing,
2 conjured ground floor projections one tiled has gable end
C20 double casement window off centre, glazing bars 4x3 panes,
adjacent projection has single pitch slate roof with C19 2x2
paned casement windows in E end. W end elevation - to N plain
end of principal block jettied to street, with small C20
ground-floor addition to W with 3 similar simple casement
windows. To S, S wing, W side elevation, ground floor
weatherboarded, partly over C19 brick dwarf wall. Simple C19
bead moulded doorway with plain C20 door: Each side, a C20
casement window with glazing bars, to N of 3 lights 3x3 panes,
to S of 2 lights, 4x3 panes. First floor, one C19 and one C20
3-light casement windows with glazing bars both 6x3 panes. To
S lesser building row a garage with C20 bonded double doors.
INTERIOR: 3 phases of timber-framed construction evident,
together creating the present long jettied form:
(1) Earliest unit early C15, central, originally with jettied
gable end to street with doorway (blocked) having elegant
hollow chamfered 4-centred arched head also evidence of
adjacent original window, sill mortice and shutter groove
remain. N-S axis of central unit shown by orientation of jawl
pests; and a transverse tie-beam, also transverse ground-floor
binding joint with partition mortices. A plain exterior jetty
bracket on the street frontage remains from this phase.
Framing, plain except for step-stopped chamfer on W side
middle rail.
(2) Late C15 addition to W side with richly moulded
ground-floor ceiling joists. Crossed binding and bridging
joists as well as common joists have chamfer comprising cymas,
rolls and hollow, moulding at ends of binding joist elegantly
converge and run out. Also, a conntemporary ground-floor brick
fireplace, off-centre to N at W end - defaced timber lintel
but remnants of roll in hollow moulding. High above, 7
trefoiled corbelled arches, in narrow brick, rest of fireplace
rebiuilt in C19 brickwork, lintel underbuilt with reduced
segment headed fireplace and niche. Roof of unit not visible
but central vertical post above tie-beam implies crown-post
form. Chamfered jetty bracket visible on street frontage
supports projecting binding joist having refined shaped
soffit. Shutter groove from original ground-floor window.
(3) Early C17 addition to E side of original unit -
dragon-beam carries quite deep sectioned joists around N side
and E end; framing plan with slightly carved internal nailed
tension braces. Contemporary large 4 fluid stack at junction
of central and E end units with original ground-floor
fireplaces - to E, shallow segment arched head with
ovolo-moulding to both arch and rectangular surround, also,
timber bearer over arch; fragment of decorated plaster
ornamental convives - reed moulded square panel within outer
linked square and central moulded device (plain ceiling joists
probably originally supported similar plasterd ceiling). The
fireplace on the reverse W side has 2 chamfered orders round a
flattened triangular head, stack here bridges older partition
in early central unit. First-floor fireplaces, raw blocked.
Rear first-floor passage way contrived along length of block;
2 contemporary, doorways survive, one with lamb's tongue
chamfer strip. Also, first floor closet in void between
principal stack and front wall of same phase, original door
frame on E side. Rear wing to S also of early C17, 2 bays with
blocked ground-floor 3-light ovolo mullioned window and axial
bridging joist with lamb's tongue chamfer strips. Also,
central partition studs above the beam have Roman numeral
carpenters marks 1-8, primary bracing below tie-beam. Edge
halved and bridled scarfs in both wall plates over central
posts. C19 work includes the additions in the rear court and
the replacement of earlier windows by the centred windows on
the front ground floor. The building was said to have
projected at the W end as well as the E end (RCHM). This can
never have been a medieval jetty; the C15 stack occupies this
space.
(RCHM: Central and SW Essex : Monument 7).

Listing NGR: TQ6498199523

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26491776

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings