Granary/Stables Block 70 Metres South Of Cressing Temple Farmhouse

CRESSING WITHAM ROAD TL 71 NE (east side)

4/75 Granary/stables block 21.12.67 70 metres south of Cressing Temple Farmhouse (formerly listed as Outbuilding S of Cressing Temple House)

GV II

Granary/stables block, converted to court house. Late C16, altered in 1623 and C19. Timber framed, plastered and weatherboarded, with some exposed imitation framing and C19 brick nogging, base wall of red brick in English bond; roofed with handmade red plain tiles. 10 bays aligned NE-SW. 2 storeys. C19 single-storey wing of red brick with tiled roof extending to SE from NE end. The NW elevation has on the ground floor 2 resited C18 windows with wrought iron casements and diamond leading, and 4 brick vents, and on the first floor 3 slatted wooden vents. 2 feature gables; that to the right has early C17 carved bargeboards with conventional ornament, a carved finial and cage pendant, and in the middle a horizontal panel with similar carving and the date 1623, representing the construction of this gable; that to the left is of C19 construction, and has C19 similar detail. The SE elevation has halved stable doors, and on the first floor 6 small casements. Some shaped sprockets. Jowled posts with hewn ledges supporting the binding beams. Curved tension braces trenched inside heavy studding. Face-halved and bladed scarfs in the wallplates. 2 longitudinal bridging beams between each pair of binding beams, jointed to them with central tenons with soffit spurs and housed shoulders. Joists of horizontal section, jointed to the bridging beams with soffit tenons and diminished haunches. Diamond mortices and shutter grooves for unglazed windows. Grooves for original infill of wattle and daub, now missing. Straight tiebeams (some with wattle grooves and empty mortices for studding) with arched braces. Joggled butt-purlin roof. 4 bays of the upper floor at the SW end have been converted for use as a court room in 1623. The feature gable bearing this date was inserted to light the 'high' end. It has a window of early glazed type, with 3 ovolo mullions with moulded glazing fillets still bearing traces of putty, and holes for intermediate saddle bars; it is blocked externally. That it is a late insertion is proved by the empty seatings for removed rafters. The wattle grooves and empty mortices in tiebeams which are now freestanding, conflicting with the arched braces, indicate that there has been some rebuilding of the roof. This is the largest granary in Essex, indicating the great extent and productivity of the Cressing Temple estate. The frame and jointing are illustrated in C.A. Hewett, The Development of Carpentry, 1200-1700, an Essex Study, 1969, 158, 184, 191 and 200. Dendrochronological analysis of one core, location not stated, indicates construction 'after 1575' (Fletcher, Tapper and Morris, Vernacular Architecture 16, 1985, 41). It is indicated on the OS map as Old Court Room.

Listing NGR: TL7976118797