Granary/Cottage 40 Metres North Of Church Hall Farmhouse

Granary and cottage, located 40 metres north of Church Hall Farmhouse on London Road, Kelvedon. The building dates from the early 16th century or earlier, and was altered to a cottage in the early 19th century. It was later used as a poultry house and is now unused.

The structure is timber-framed with original infill of vertical oak planks and later 16th-century brick nogging. Some cement rendering covers parts of the exterior. The roof is covered with handmade red plain tiles and corrugated iron. The building comprises 2 bays aligned north-west to south-east, with an early 19th-century external stack to the south-east. The granary was originally a single storey; an upper storey was added when it was converted to a cottage.

The south-west elevation is cement rendered and originally contained the main doorway, now altered. This elevation has three large 20th-century window apertures on the ground floor. The original walls of the granary survive almost intact elsewhere, except for one 19th-century window aperture and one 19th-century plain boarded door in the north-east elevation, and the insertion of a hearth in the south-east elevation.

The north-east elevation retains an original vent complete with an original internal shutter on pintle hinges, a rare feature requiring special care. The vertical oak boards are deeply rebated into double-pegged studs to present a flush surface internally. The corner posts are jowled of L-section with external curved tension braces. 16th-century brick nogging has been inserted outside the boards, using bricks measuring 0.24 x 0.11 x 0.04 metres laid in lime mortar in "simple oblique" and "stacked blocks" patterns. As the studs are not recessed to key the mortar, much of it has fallen out, with some later nogging present.

The floor is supported on brick piers, which at the outside have been later joined to form a continuous plinth. Due to a rise in ground level, this plinth is now visible externally only to the north-east. The floor comprises 9 heavy joists of horizontal section in each bay, jointed to the central transverse main joist with central tenons. Some original rebated oak floorboards remain in situ, mostly covered by a later layer of boards.

The central post of the north-east elevation is deeply grooved for the wall planking and was originally jowled with an arched brace to the cambered tiebeam; the jowl and most of the brace have been cut away for access to a 19th-century stair. The stair enclosure incorporates part of an original bin wall, approximately 0.80 metre high, constructed of rebated oak planks fastened with the same large-headed nails as the outer planking. The south-west doorway lies below the other end of the internal tiebeam, where there was no arch-brace.

One original rafter couple and halved collar survive in the central partition. The remainder of the roof has been demolished for the upper storey, though rafter seatings indicate it was hipped at each end. No visible evidence of a crownpost survives. The upper storey is of 19th-century lightweight framing, cement-rendered externally, with one window aperture to the north-east and one 19th-century horizontal sash of 8 lights to the north-west. The roof comprises softwood framing, with tiling largely complete over the north-west bay and corrugated iron over the south-east bay. A blocked hearth is present on the ground floor; an early 19th-century cast iron ducknest grate survives on the upper floor.

Granaries of this early date are rare; three others are known in Essex. Measured drawings by Anne Padfield will be deposited with Essex Record Office and the National Monuments Record.