Hatfield Place

Hatfield Place is a large house located in Hatfield Peverel, constructed between 1791 and 1795 by John Johnson for Colonel John Tyrell. The house is built of gault brick in Flemish bond, with limestone and Coade stone dressings, and a slate roof. It follows a double-pile plan facing north, with two internal stacks on each side. A service wing extends to the right, connected by a cellar storey, and a connecting block was added around 1905 by George Sherrin for Colonel Arkwright. A single-storey ballroom extension from the mid-19th century sits to the left, and a mid-19th century porch fronts the building.

The main façade features a three-window range of twelve-light sash windows with gauged brick heads. The ground-floor windows are recessed within rusticated stone arches, each topped with Coade keystones depicting Flora and Pomona. The ground floor is further clad in rusticated stone supporting four pairs of Coade pilasters with defective foliate capitals, a Coade frieze with paterae, and a parapet with a turned balustrade. The double, six-panel entrance doors are protected by a mid-19th century stone and brick porch, having rusticated quoins and an enriched parapet, and topped with a plain fanlight. The side walls rise above the parapet level to form a mansard roof. A small extension to the right of the main elevation incorporates a single twelve-light sash window on the ground floor, two three-plus-six-light sashes on the first floor with plaster aprons, and a half-glazed door with side lights, stone pilasters, and a frieze.

The south (garden) elevation features a five-bay cast iron canopy, a verandah, steps, and incorporates the initials WMT, commemorating William Michael Tufnell, who acquired the property in 1847 and died in 1905.

The interior retains much of the original decoration designed by Johnson. The ballroom and front extension are decorated in a similar style. Notable features include an oval staircase hall with doorways featuring semi-elliptical arches, moulded tread ends, a wreathed handrail, and elegant wrought iron scrolled and foliate balusters with honeysuckle terminals made of non-ferrous metal. A groined passage to the rear is decorated with plaster figures and medallions in low relief. A drawing room, originally a dining parlour, has a marble chimney-piece with an Orpheus medallion. A smaller drawing room contains three medallions. Original plaster friezes depicting sphinxes, lyres, and scrollwork are complemented by egg-and-dart, bayleaf, and honeysuckle borders. A “domical brick vault” lies below the staircase hall, as documented in original accounts. The building accounts, held in the Essex Record Office (D/DKe F4), provide detailed information about its construction, which was undertaken by John Johnson junior, Joseph Andrews, and William Horsfall, based on designs by John Johnson senior. It shares close similarities to his earlier Holcombe House (now St. Mary's Abbey) and Woolverstone Hall.