6, 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D AND 6E (THE BARN), EAST STREET

House and commercial premises, now comprising two shops, a flat, and workshops. The building complex dates from the late 14th to early 16th centuries, with alterations made in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is timber framed, with roughcast, plastered and weatherboarded external walls, roofed with machine-made and handmade red plain tiles and interlocking concrete tiles.

The structure comprises a complex courtyard plan made up of nine separate components. The main block (1) is a late 14th-century range of two bays facing the street, with an early 16th-century rear stack. Behind this sits (2) a 15th or 16th-century two-bay wing. To the right of the main range is (3) an original two-bay crosswing with a 19th-century internal stack. Behind this is (4) an early 15th-century two-bay wing jetted to the left, followed by (5) a late 15th-century three-bay extension, also jetted to the left. Further back is (6) a late 15th or early 16th-century four-bay wing with an end stack, and (7) an early 16th-century three-bay extension of one storey. To the left of the front block is (8) a 16th-century wing of one bay, and finally (9) an early 19th-century one-bay extension with a 19th-century stack at the junction. All components are two storeys except block 5, which has a cellar, and block 7.

No. 6 (right) features an underbuilt jetty with a projecting early 19th-century butcher's shopfront incorporating a wrought iron grill at the top and roll-moulded fascia below. The shop window is 20th-century with brick nogging and a glazed door. The first floor has one early 19th-century sash window of 12+12 lights with crown glass. No. 6A (left) has a jetty and an 18th or early 19th-century two-storey splayed bay of sashes: the ground floor displays lights of 8-6-6-6-8, the first floor 6-6-6, all with crown glass; a half-glazed four-panel door is present. Coved eaves cornice runs along this section. Early 19th-century heavy cast iron railings on a dwarf wall front only No. 6A, with spearheads and one urn terminal, extending along the street frontage and returning to the building at both ends.

The front pitch of the main roof is clad with machine-made red clay tiles; the rear pitch and left rear wing use interlocking concrete tiles. The other rear wings are roofed with handmade red plain tiles, except the most distant one (block 7), which has corrugated asbestos.

Interior fenestration includes an early 19th-century sash of 4+8 lights on the rear first floor of the main range. An early 19th-century horizontal sash of 6+6 lights appears in the right return first floor. The right elevation of the left rear wing shows an 18th-century transomed three-light casement with one wrought iron casement, rectangular leading and original saddle bars on the ground floor. Two early 19th-century sashes of 12 lights appear in the left return. In the rear elevation of this wing, a splayed oriel of uncertain date with 19th-century casements appears on the first floor.

The main range retains its original cross-entry with arched speres to the left and twin service doorways with four-centred heads to the right. The joists are plain, of heavy square section. The front elevation has been carried forward approximately 0.50 metre to align with the front of the crosswing, which is jettied, a modification dating to the 16th century or earlier. The elevation is also raised approximately 0.70 metre, and the roof has been rebuilt, severing the original wallplate at the jowled posts. The ground floor interior is plastered with an axial beam boxed in. The first-floor hearth is of stone—exceptional in Essex—with hollow-chamfered and roll-moulded jambs, a depressed arch, and recessed spandrels, all dating to the early 16th century.

The crosswing displays one plain bracket below the jetty; the post is defaced as if it formerly had an attached shaft. Heavy square-section joists are present. The binding beam is chamfered with step stops; a studded partition formerly existed here but the studs have been removed. Three straight braces appear in the right wall, with no mortice for a fourth. The roof was rebuilt in line with that of the main range, incorporating a splayed and undersquinted scarf. The right tiebeam retains late 16th-century painting in red flowers and serpentine green foliage on a white ground, with blue or black bands above and below; a fragment approximately 0.80 metre long survives from a design that once covered the entire tiebeam. At the rear, an early 19th-century two-flight stair with turned balusters and wreathed handrail (two broken stick balusters present) is positioned above a half-glazed door with crown and bullseye glass. Chamfered posts with step stops are present, with curved tension braces trenched outside studs to the left and an arched brace to the right. The absence of studding in the right wall and the rising braces at both floors suggest the wing was originally built against an existing structure, now replaced; the studding currently visible on the upper storey belongs to No. 4. Original or early floorboards survive.

The wing to the rear of the main range comprises two builds of one bay each, with wallplates joined by simple edge-halved scarfs. Jowled posts and wallplates are chamfered with step stops and broach stops. The end tiebeam is rebated for shutters. A large blocked first-floor window to the right of the end bay probably was originally an oriel.

The first wing to the rear right (block 4) has plain joists of horizontal section, three plain brackets below the jetty, and three solid knees to the binding beams. The right wallplate is grooved for a sliding shutter. The next wing (block 5) features a battened door of five wedge-shaped planks rebated together on shouldered strap hinges with incised mouldings—a rare survival. A complete unglazed window with four diamond mullions sits below the jetty, with another above, the latter complete with top and bottom rails for a sliding shutter—another rare survival. Plain horizontal-section joists with a framed stair trap are present, alongside a re-sited stair of six solid treads (five treads missing) within an original doorway of four-centred head profile. Jowled posts, an edge-halved and bridled scarf in the wallplate, and a crownpost roof with axial bracing are retained. The middle short bay is an original smoke-bay with framing for the former ridge louvre.

The next wing (block 6) displays moulded joists, jointed to plain binding beams of vertical section with central tenons and housed soffits. A moulded right girt is present. In the upper right wall sits a complete unglazed window with four diamond mullions. High clasped purlins are present; one tiebeam has been renewed with softwood. Block 7 has a crownpost roof with axial bracing, though one tiebeam and crownpost are missing. Block 8 has jowled posts and horizontal-section joists, including one fashioned from the transom of the large unglazed window of a medieval hall.

This complex of buildings is listed at Grade II* as an exceptionally undisturbed survival from various periods, retaining features which rarely survive elsewhere.