Ancells in the Hole

Ancells in the Hole is a house located on the east side of Braintree Road in Shalford. It dates back to the 16th century, with alterations made in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The building is timber framed and plastered, featuring a roof made of handmade red clay tiles and slate. The main range, which faces northeast, consists of two bays and is from the mid-16th century. To the left is a three-bay crosswing that extends to the rear and has an internal stack at the junction, dating around 1570. There is a small 18th-century extension at the rear of the right bay of the main range, and a 19th-century extension with a slate roof situated between this and the crosswing. Additionally, there is a single-storey lean-to extension with a slate roof at the west corner.

The house is two storeys tall, with a cellar and attic. The front features a three-window range of 20th-century casements, with small gables above the two upper windows. The entrance has a six-panel door, where the top panels are glazed and the bottom panels are boarded, dating from the early 19th century. The main stack includes a quatrefoiled recess in moulded brick at the base and rebuilt grouped diagonal shafts. On the upper storey of the left return wall, there are two unglazed windows that were converted for glazing between 1570 and 1590, which are of exceptional historical interest.

The structure includes jowled posts and heavy studding, with curved tension bracing that is trenched inside the studs and exposed in the crosswing. There are unglazed windows with shutter grooves and mortices for diamond mullions in both sections, with adaptations in the crosswing for the early glazed windows mentioned earlier. The main range features chamfered axial beams with step stops, while the crosswing has lamb's tongue stops and notch stops. On the ground floor, there are two large wood-burning hearths, and an early 17th-century hearth with a depressed brick arch is located on the first floor of the main range. The main range has a crownpost roof with axial braces, while the crosswing has a clasped purlin roof with arched wind-bracing. Notably, there is a wall painting on the plaster and studs of the left ground floor room depicting a woman in Elizabethan costume, likely Queen Elizabeth I, and a reported wall painting in the room above, which has been panelled over in the 20th century.