Granary/Stables Block 70 Metres South of Cressing Temple Farmhouse

This is a late 16th-century granary and stables block, altered in 1623 and the 19th century, situated 70 metres south of Cressing Temple Farmhouse. It was originally listed as an outbuilding. The building is timber framed, with plaster and weatherboard cladding, some exposed imitation framing, and brick nogging, set upon a red brick base wall in English bond. The roof is covered in handmade red plain tiles. The block has 10 bays aligned north-east to south-west, with a single-storey red brick wing with a tiled roof extending to the south-east from the north-east end.

The north-west elevation features, on the ground floor, two resited 18th-century windows with wrought iron casements and diamond leading, and four brick vents. The first floor has three slatted wooden vents. Two gables are prominent; the right-hand gable has early 17th-century carved bargeboards with conventional ornament, a carved finial and cage pendant, and a horizontal panel with similar carving displaying the date 1623, marking the construction of the gable. The left-hand gable is a 19th-century addition with similar detail. The south-east elevation has halved stable doors, and six small casements on the first floor. Shaped sprockets are also present. The building’s frame exhibits jowled posts with hewn ledges supporting binding beams. Curved tension braces are trenched inside heavy studding, with face-halved and bladed scarfs in the wallplates. The internal structure includes two longitudinal bridging beams between each pair of binding beams, jointed with central tenons, soffit spurs, and housed shoulders. Joists of horizontal section are jointed to the bridging beams with soffit tenons and diminished haunches. Diamond mortices and shutter grooves suggest original unglazed windows. Grooves indicate the former presence of wattle and daub infill. Straight tiebeams, some with wattle grooves and empty mortices for studding, are present with arched braces. The roof is supported by a joggled butt-purlin system.

Four bays on the upper floor at the south-west end were converted into a court room in 1623, with the dated gable inserted to illuminate the ‘high’ end. This gable contains an early glazed window with three ovolo mullions, retaining traces of putty and holes for saddle bars, but it is now blocked externally. The evidence suggests this gable is a later addition. Rebuilding of the roof is indicated by conflicting arched braces. This is the largest granary in Essex, reflecting the considerable size and productivity of the Cressing Temple estate. The framing and jointing details are documented in C. A. Hewett’s “The Development of Carpentry, 1200-1700, an Essex Study,” 1969. Dendrochronological analysis of a core sample suggests the building was constructed ‘after 1575’. It is shown on Ordnance Survey maps as Old Court Room.