Barrow Hill House, Bakehouse and Stables, West Mersea, West Mersea, Essex

Summary

A house of 1785 with an earlier cross wing, probably of late C15 date. Associated with it are a bakehouse of late C18 and early C19 date and a stable block built between 1838 and 1874.

Description

MATERIALS: The house has walls of gault brick and timber framing with a tiled roof. The bakehouse is a mixture of brick and timber framing under a tiled roof. The stables are of red brick with a metal sheet roof.

PLAN: The main range is a single room deep with a central stair passage. A cross wing at the eastern end projects northwards of the main range with two small extensions in the angle between them.

EXTERIOR: The south elevation is of two stories in gault brick with stone flat arches to windows. The main range has a tall gambrel roof with end stacks and three dormers and full height canted bay windows either side of the central door which is half glazed with margin lights and six small panels below with a rendered door surround and a round headed window under a hood mould above. The bay windows contain late C19 sashes. A lower hipped roof at the eastern end returns as a cross wing to the north. It has late C19 sash windows with margin lights, the ground floor one replaced in the early C21.

The western end is of red brick with a rendered single storey lean-to store extension dating from the mid-C20 when two small windows were also inserted in the gable. The cross wing has rendered walls to east and north sides. Both sides have a ground floor door with window beside it and a single window above. All are of late C20 date. The north side of the main range is rendered on a timber frame without openings, although the scar of a removed C20 extension can be seen. Two dormers are on the roof above. A catslide roofed extension is in the angle between the main range and cross wing with a six over six sash window and a small porch on its western side. Both are rendered and probably date from between 1838 and 1874.

The bakehouse is of four bays in red brick with a pitched roof clad in mid-C20 tiles and a chimney stack at the south end with decorative diaper work in burnt headers in the gable. Two windows with reused six over six sashes flank the plank and batten door on the west side with a similar door in the east wall opposite. A C20 replacement window is in the northern gable with a blocked doorway below.

The stables are of six bays with a stable door off centre on the west elevation flanked by lunette windows with grey brick voussoirs and cast-iron window frames. There are shuttered rectangular openings to the south at high level, possibly for taking in fodder, and at ground level. A larger lunette with cast iron frame is in the southern gable end and a large opening has been made in the north gable end, probably in the C20. The east side has a single door at the south end with a lunette window with iron frame next to it and a high-level vent to the north.

INTERIOR: Inside the cross wing there is exposed timber framing throughout suggesting a construction date of the late C15. The ground floor is a single open space with a bridging beam running east to west with the mortices of a former partition. In the south wall some studs have been removed for the C19 window. Joints in the floor joists at either end of the south wall could be associated with realignment of the wall to remove a jetty. Early C21 repairs replaced the sole plates on the south and east sides along with part of one floor joist in the south east corner and three in the north east which filled the opening for a stair, possibly an original secondary one or a C18 one. All these C21 replacement timbers are reused historic ones.

The west side of the room has a C18 doorway from the main range and a chimney of that date. The mid-rail suggests there were original doorways at the south and north ends of the west wall. The original stair opening in the ceiling is at the north west corner, blocked with reused timbers. A blocked original window is situated in the north wall. There is another blocked window in the east wall with diamond mullion joints and a sliding shutter groove and the doorway was formed from another window.

The first floor of the cross wing has extensive studwork and jowelled corner posts and is spanned by a tie beam with the eastern brace partly removed, probably to create a doorway through a partition in the C18. Above the inserted celling the original crown post roof is substantially intact. On the south wall of the room studs have been removed and the wall plate trimmed for the C19 window opening. On the east timber diamond mullions and a sliding shutter groove are inside a C20 casement window while a wider space between the studs at the north end suggests a former opening, possibly to a garderobe. The north wall also has a window shutter groove but without mullions. On the west wall the plate has been cut for the doorway from the C18 range and studs removed for a fireplace, a cupboard with C18 L-hinges and access to the roof space of the C19 catslide extension. There are six plaster on wattle and daub infill panels with visible wall painting in red: four on the east wall with diaper patterns and one which might depict the rigging of a ship, and one on the west wall which may include animals.

In the roof space above the catslide extension some rope pattern pargetting from the formerly external wall of the cross wing survives with lines in plaster and on the wall plate indicating the roof line of the demolished hall, possibly an aisled structure. The timber framed north wall of the C18 range is also visible.

From the front door of the C18 range an entrance passage contains an open well stair with Tuscan column pendant newels and three stick balusters to each open string tread with simple scroll brackets. This decoration is carried up through all floors. The newels and handrail are reflected in carved timber mouldings on the stair walls. There is a two-panel door on L-hinges under the stair and four-panelled doors to the principal rooms, all in C18 doorcases.

Principal rooms flank the entrance. The western room has a fireplace flanked by arched niches in the late C18 Adam style. The chimney piece has a simple mantle with dentil cornice, delicate relief scroll decoration on the architrave flanked by urns, plain sidepieces and a marble insert. The niches are set between reeded pilasters with a shallow arch below dentil cornice. A dentil cornice and dado panelling run around the whole room to the inserted late C19 bay window which has shutter boxes. The eastern ground floor room has dado panelling matching the western room, a plain C18 stone fireplace insert with simple C20 timber mantle, four panelled doors in C18 doorcases and shutter boxes to the C19 bay window.

On the first floor the western room has a simple painted C18 chimneypiece with dentil cornice mantle and late C19 grate and surround which is flanked by C18 cupboards. Matching chimneypiece, grate and doors are in the eastern first floor room, part of which has been divided to create a bathroom in the C21.

At the rear of the ground floor the porch and extension dating from between 1838 and 1874 contains a traditional C19 timber water closet bench seat in the former and brick nogged construction and fitted late C19 pantry shelves.

The bakehouse is divided in two by a brick partition but has a gault brick floor throughout. The southern part contains a large hearth with a smokery chamber built under the lintel of what might have originally been a bread oven. To one side is the base of a copper. A hand-operated pump drawing water from an adjacent well is on the west wall. The roof structure is complete on the east side, with common rafters replaced on the west and evidence of a former ceiling. In the northern part of the building pegged and jointed timber framing is seen inside the brick cladding. The rest of the building is solid brick walling suggesting two phases of development from the C18 and early C19.

The stables have a concrete floor with a simple roof of mixed split and square timbers with collars and tie beams that appear to be largely intact and of one build. The second bay from the south end is narrow, with boarded partitions above the tie beams and evidence of former partitions below. This bay is accessed from a high-level opening with timber shutter in the west wall, possibly for taking in fodder. The southernmost bay has a low, ground level shuttered opening in the west wall opposite. This may be a calf creep and the end bay a cow shed with stables at the northern end though there is no evidence of stable fittings except a timber saddle hook in the north west corner.

History

Barrow Hill House probably takes its name from a scheduled burial mound containing an interment from AD C2 which stands just to the east of the present house (NHLE 1019019). Documentary evidence suggests the site of the present Barrow Hill House was occupied from at least the C14.

The house was in the possession of the Hawes family from at least 1717 until 1874 by which time it was occupied by one Ebenezer Root. The 1717 estate map shows the house with one or possibly two farm buildings to its north. Chapman and Andre’s map of 1777 shows an outbuilding to the east of the house, possibly representing the early phase of the bakehouse. A dated brick in the west wall of the present house suggests the main part of the building was replaced in 1785 and the 1838 Tithe map shows the present configuration of an L-plan with an earlier wing at the eastern end. By 1838 farm buildings included a barn north of the house and another east of the barrow.

By 1874 maps show the south front of the house had been refaced and an extension added to the rear in the angle of the L-plan. The stables had also been constructed by this time. At this point the bakehouse had small extensions to south and east, the latter replaced by a cartshed by 1923 which was demolished in the late C20. In the mid-C20 the parapet was removed from the south front and flat-roofed dormers replaced with pitched roof ones while the barn to the north of the house was demolished. Between 1923 and 1961 a small extension was added to the rear of the building but was removed before the 1980s and two dormers added above in 1990.

Reasons for Listing

Barrow Hill House and its associated Bakehouse and Stables are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest

* as a good example of an evolving vernacular farmstead which has adapted incrementally over hundreds of years

Architectural interest

* as a good example of a late C15 timber framed cross wing which evolved in form and function through the C17 and C18 with key phases remaining legible in the surviving fabric of the building;

* for the exceptional number and quality of original fixtures and fittings including a particularly fine staircase that illustrates the property’s rise from a modest farmstead with documented origins in the early-14th century to a substantial gentry holding of some 200 acres;

* for the survival of its C17 interior wall painting scheme which includes both geometric and figurative elements.

Group value

* the farmhouse, stable and bakehouse hold a strong functional and historic group value.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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.