Description

TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL ABBEY LANE
(south side)

9/13 Guest-house of
2.5.53 Coggeshall Abbey
(formerly listed as
the Chapel of St.
Catherine, Coggeshall
Abbey)

GV I

Guest-house of Cistercian abbey, now boiler-house. Circa 1190, altered in late
C16. Walls of flint rubble containing brick, with dressings of brick, raised
with re-used original brick and tile; gables timber framed and weatherboarded;
roofed with handmade red plain tiles. Rectangular plan aligned NNE-SSW
(described here by the cardinal points) with axial stack, 1984. S wall
demolished for post-Dissolution use as a barn. The W and E walls have each 4
lancet windows recessed in 2 plain orders; all are partly repaired, and 3 on the
E are partly blocked. The N wall has at the W end a doorway with round arch and
rear-arch, with rounded external arrises formed of moulded bricks, rebated
internally for a door. The quoins are mainly of brick 0.33 x 0.15 x 0.045
metre, and are all partly repaired. Internally there are 5 recesses for seats
in each of the W and E walls, and 2 in the N wall, all with round arches and
similar rounded arrises; 2 on the W are partly filled with later masonry, but
otherwise unaltered; 2 on th E are partly filled, and one is repaired; one on
the N has lost its brick arch; the other has an internal pier of later
brickwork, and is obstructed by a boiler flue of 1984. The N wall is reduced in
thickness in 2 stages, with flat ledges; there is no evidence of beam-sockets
for a floor. The walls have been raised approximately 0.50 metre in the late
C16. The late C16 roof is in 2 bays, of clasped purlin construction with arched
wind-braces, rafters of horizontal section, with bird-mouthed collars at the
half-bay positions, complete. The amendment notice of 30 December 1958
identified this building as the Chapel of St Catherine; J.S. Gardner cites
documentary evidence of 1464 that the Chapel was N of the (demolished) Nave
(Coggeshall Abbey and its early brickwork, Journal of the British Archaeological
Association, third series 18, 1955, 19-32 and plates 5-14). Gardner states from
excavated evidence that the S wall originally had a doorway in line with that in
the N wall, with a porch. Between them a floor of tiles on edge has been
exposed, approximately 0.80 metre below present ground level. RCHM (Little
Coggeshall) 2. A.M.

Listing NGR: TL8553522207

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536099

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.

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