Ridley Hall

TL 71 NE TERLING BRAINTREE ROAD (south side)

2/108 Ridley Hall

• II

House. C.1400, altered in C18 and C20. Mainly timber framed and plastered, with some painted brick, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. 2-bay hall aligned E-W with axial stack in W bay. 2-bay service crosswing to E, with external stack to N. Crosswing extended to S by one bay in late C16, with end wall of brick and external stack beyond. Large C20 extension to W of hall. 2 storeys. E elevation, 3-window range of C20 casements. C20 door. The N stack is of C16 origin, the upper part rebuilt in the C18. The S stack is C17/C18. Roof fully hipped. In the hall, at the E end, blocked twin service doorways with chamfered jambs and 4-centred heads, in chamfered surrounds, and to each side display bracing trenched into close studding, with jewel-headed nails at the crossings. In NE corner, blocked doorway with plain head, formerly leading to a stair to the chamber over the service rooms. At W end, C20 grate with chamfered mantel beam with lamb's tongue stops retained from late C16 fireplace. inserted floor comprising chamfered axial beam with plain joists of horizontal section, some renewed. Heavily smoke-blackened rafters trenched for collars on the E side (towards the 'high end'), but collars, collar-purlin and crownpost missing. In the service crosswing, central partition removed, C20 grate in C16 stack. Wide braces to cambered tiebeam, roof structure much altered by conversion to a hip in C18. The C16 S extension has close studding, plain doorheads, a blocked large window to the W (probably of oriel form originally), and a clasped purlin roof with arched wind-bracing, altered to a hip in the C18. This house was originally a manor house of high status, with a hall of unusually large span and height, having a cross-entry at the E end and the front door to the S of it, now blocked. The parlour/solar end has been demolished and the W end of the hall closed with a brick wall, with the C20 extension beyond. In the C16 the service crosswing was extended to the N. In the C18 this crosswing became the reception front, a central entrance/stair hall was made, with a room to each side, and the roof was hipped, to produce the illusion of symmetry, and the hall became a rear service wing. In the C19 it became a large tenement, and was altered to its present form c.1960.

Listing NGR: TL7559815362