Description

MALDON

TL8407SE HIGH STREET
574-1/6/76 (North West side)
02/10/51 No.39
and Moot Hall
(Formerly Listed as:
HIGH STREET
(North side)
Moot Hall, including No.39 High
Street)

GV I

Tower house, now town council premises. Early-mid C15;
remodelled internally late C18-early C19; parapet, top of
stair turret and north-west angle of rear range rebuilt c1900.
For Sir Robert D'arcy (1358-1448); acquired by Borough
Council, 1576. Red brick in English bond, walls at least 2ft
thick; lead roof.
PLAN: two intersecting rectangles, the rear range attached to
the north-west corner of the front range, and may be an
addition. Octagonal crenellated stair turret to north-east
angle of front range, internally cylindrical.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys with vaulted cellar to rear range, partly
below ground. To High Street the ground floor has been faced
in Gault brick; entrance has pair of doors in round-arched
reveals under gauged brick arches with patterned fanlights;
blind central recess; boot scraper; tetrastyle Doric portico
has late C19 iron balustrade with pair of lamps. To 1st floor
a pair of full-height round-arched sashes with glazing bars
and radial gazing in the heads, one of which gives access to
the balcony. Central plaque recording installation of clock on
iron bracket in 1881. 20-pane sash to 2nd floor.
Rear elevation of main range: ground floor partly concealed by
later additions. 12x4 pivoting window with chamfered jambs off
trunctated single light below. 1st floor has 16-pane sash
under gauged brick arch. 12-pane sash to 2nd floor. Sash
window to east and west elevations of 2nd floor. Added stack
to west wall.
Rear elevation of rear range: ground floor is cement rendered
and lined out. Barred rectangular window to 1st floor. 2nd
floor round-arched sash with glazing bars and radial glazing
in head. North-east elevation of rear range: 1st floor 2-light
chamfered-brick-mullioned window, completely renewed. West
elevation rear range: 2 inserted rectangular lights to 1st
floor. 2 arched lights to 2nd floor, one of which is 4-centred
and chamfered. Rectangular slit windows to stair turret.

Timber bellcage under shingled spirelet of 1881 to rear range.
No.39 High Street: shop, formerly part of the Moot Hall;
c1440. Part red English-bond brick and part rendered
timber-frame with gabled plain tile roof. 3 storeys;
single-window range; with 2-storey C19 rear extension. Front
is rendered with parapet. 2nd floor has a C19 nine-pane sash
window. 1st floor has similar but wider window, partly
obscured and now only showing 8 panes. Late C19 shop front of
hardwood with deep projecting fascia on brackets and band of
rectangular leaded lights over plain shop front with brick
stall-riser and recessed entrance.
As first built in early-mid C15, it had a brick west flank
(shared with Moot Hall proper), a recessed brick front
elevation and a brick angled rear wall contiguous to the Moot
Hall stair tower. This rear wall had narrow windows on ground-
and (original) 1st-floor level with chamfered jambs. The west
flank wall has a brick straight joint near its south end at
1st-floor level only, marking the springing of the original
brick front wall. The east flank consists of a 2-storey
timber-framed wall of c1400 against which this property was
constructed. This has straight wall bracing and remnants of 3,
originally elaborate, windows. Near its centre was a
contemporary projecting chimney stack.
INTERIOR: Moot Hall: on each floor, the front range contains a
single large chamber; on the ground floor a cross-wall has
been inserted to form a front lobby containing a staircase to
the 1st floor. The rear range is divided on each floor into a
smaller chamber with a fireplace to the west end of the rear
wall and a closet to the south-west.
Ground floor of front range: moulded and crenellated wall
plates and 2 transverse beams. Barred window in inserted wall
which contains a diagonally boarded and studded door with
small grille. C20 dado panelling. Tudor arch, splayed only on
right, to stair turret in north-east wall. Tall chamfered
Tudor-arched doorway now blocked, originally gave access up
steps to the small closet in rear range.
Rear range is raised up on a barrel-vaulted semi-basement. The
original entrance to the cellar, from outside in the north
wall, is now blocked. In the early C19 the vault was truncated
by the insertion of a cross wall to form a passage from the
main range to the yard at the rear. This now gives access to
the cellar. A new entrance was cut through, perhaps at the
same time, from the main range into the ground-floor chamber
in the rear wing. This chamber has moulded and crenellated
wall plates. C20 brick fireplace in original position at west
end of rear wall. Tudor-arched doorway to closet. Tudor-arched
doorway to vaulted brick newel stair with moulded integral
handrail; stepped-headed lamp niche at base. At 1st-floor

level a timber floor has been inserted across the staircase; a
a second phase of alteration most of this was removed when a
short flight of timber stairs was inserted to improve the
access from the 1st-floor court room to the 2nd floor. The
brick steps, with a wider tread to the original 1st floor
entrance, remain intact although the entrance itself has been
altered. Fragment of possible moulded door jamb. Front stair
to 1st-floor court room of timber with ramped mahogany
handrail, balustrade to 1st floor with stick balusters and
column newels.
Court room has late C18-early C19 court fittings including
raised-and-fielded-panelled benches, dock, witness box and
judge's bench. Dado panelling of same date. Fireplace with C20
stone surround, containing Gothic iron grate, to west wall.
C19 gaslight fitting with ceiling rose in iron.
4-centred-arched door to rear range. Chamber has C17 dado
panelling and moulded and crenellated wall plates. C20 brick
fireplace under perhaps original chamfered brick mantel.
Gaslight fitting. Tudor arch to closet with stepped-headed
niche to west wall. 2nd floor approached by newel stair, lower
wall encased, with mahogany handrail; stepped-headed slit
window. Arched doorway into main room chamfered on one side,
built in curve of wall.
Council Chamber in front range: C18-early C19 dado panelling
incorporating arched niche cupboard with shaped shelves and
panelled door. Ovolo-moulded cornice; iron ceiling roses for
gas light fittings, now replaced. Black marble fireplace on
west wall with fluted pilasters suromounted by roundels
containing Gothic iron grate. Tudor arch to rear chamber with
later C20 panelling. 4-centred chamfered brick fireplace; the
flue is contained within the wall thickness.
No.39: remnants of late C16 wall painting and C18 stencil
painting on gound floor. As first constructed, the building
was of 2 storeys with a simple collar roof seated on moulded
wall plates, built into 'Moot Hall Wall' and planted on top of
c1400 timber-framed wall. The c1400 chimney breast was removed
later (c1600?) and a fireplace inserted in 1st floor, with
timber mantel beam supported on large brick corbels. The
ground floor of the west flank has a 4-centred-arched brick
doorway (now blocked) which gave access to the Moot Hall
proper.
The brick front wall was removed probably in the early C17,
and a new timber-framed wall substituted lining up with the
Moot Hall frontage. At the same time, the simple collar-rafter
roof was extended forward, and this new framing incorporated a
large window opening to former 2nd-floor room. Shortly
afterwards (c1630?) a floor was inserted, part covering this
window to form an attic.

HISTORY: the building, including No.39 High Street, was built
as a residence for Sir Robert D'arcy. New evidence in the form
of blocked doorways and straight joints in the brickwork
suggests that a 2-storey 1st-floor hall structure was first
intended, squeezed into an already developed urban frontage.
This probably had a hall at right-angles to frontage and the
octagonal stair tower without its elaborate spiral stair. The
latter appears to be part of a second phase, when walls were
thickened up and the building raised to its present height. It
seems probable that the stair was the work of foreign
brickmakers, being identical to others at Someries Castle
(Beds) and Faulkbourne Hall (Essex).
In the C16 the house was sold to a Maldon merchant and was
again sold to the Borough of Maldon in 1576 for »55. At some
time No.39 had become a separate residence, probably during
the period of merchant ownership. The Moot Hall has been used
as a court since 1576. From 1836-88 the ground floor was used
as a Police Station and housed cells. After 1889 it housed the
Essex Constabulary until the Police Station in West Square was
built in the early C20.
No.39 was first listed 24/9/71.
(RCHME: Essex: 1921-: 174; The Buildings of England: Pevsner
N: North Essex: 1965-: 293; White's Directory of Essex:
1863-).

Listing NGR: TL8498707056

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Moot Hall at Wikipedia
• Moot Hall official website
• Wikidata Q17536890

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

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)