Horseshoes

CRESSING CHURCH ROAD TL 72 SE (east side)

1/49 Horseshoes

GV II

Wrongly shown on OS map as PH. House. C15, altered in late C16, C17 and C19. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red plain tiles. 2-bay main range facing SW with late C16 stack at right end against front wall. C15 2-bay crosswing to left,'originally jettied to front, now underbuilt, with C19 external stack in left wall and C19 lean-to extension beyond. Late C17 extension to right of main range, with end stack. Lean-to extension to rear. 2 storeys. 3-window range of C20 casements. 6-panel door, top panels glazed, in C20 porch with hipped roof. The crosswing has unglazed windows in the left wall at both levels, the 3 diamond mullions of the lower window removed, the upper window complete with one diamond mullion, blocked. Mortices in the binding beam for a former studded partition, plain joists of horizontal section. Cambered central tiebeam with 2 wide arched braces, crownpost roof complete with 4 axial braces, unusually straight. The main range has been much altered in the late C16, but the lower part is of earlier origin. Wide wood-burning hearth, with an elaborately moulded floor beam re-used as the mantel beam, much re-bricked below. Inserted floor comprising a chamfered axial beam and plain josits of vertical section. C18 corner cupboard with arched head against rear wall. 2 smoke-blackened rafter couples, and cambered tiebeam sawn lengthwise to form 2 tiebeams of narrow section; remainder of roof unsooted, of clasped purlin construction with curved wind-braces. Elm weatherboarding is exposed on the rear wall within the lean-to extension. Small area of originally external plaster with serpentine inscribed pattern in right gable of main range, enclosed by right extension. Formerly The Horseshoes public house. (M.C. Wadhams, Essex Archaeology and History 2, 1979, 79-80).

Listing NGR: TL7939020444