Wat Hobbs Farmhouse

Wat Hobbs Farmhouse is a house dating from the mid-16th century, with alterations made in the 18th and 20th centuries. It is timber framed, plastered, and has a roof covered with handmade red clay tiles. The house has three bays facing south, featuring an axial stack in the right bay and 20th-century external stacks to the left and rear of the left bay. There is a single-storey lean-to extension at the rear and an 18th-century one-bay extension to the right, which has a 20th-century extension at the rear and an end stack.

The farmhouse is two storeys high and has a four-window range of early 19th-century sashes with 16 lights made of crown glass. A 20th-century half-glazed door with a gabled hood aligns with the internal stack. The roof is hipped at the left end. The structure features jowled posts and close studding. In the left bay, there are plain joists arranged longitudinally, partly plastered to the soffits, along with original floorboards. The middle bay contains a chamfered axial beam with step stops.

The rear storey post between the middle and right bays has been severed for an inserted doorway, and the tiebeam has been moved to the right. A large wood-burning hearth facing left has been blocked, while an 18th-century hearth facing right has been reduced for a 20th-century grate, with the upper part of the stack rebuilt in the 18th century. The crownpost roof is unsooted and features an original gablet hip at the left, which was altered to a plain hip externally in the 18th century. The roof also includes axial bracing, and the right part of the collar-purlin has been replaced in softwood. The front wallplate has an edge-halved and bridled scarf.

This holding, which consists of only 5 acres, is mentioned under its current name in a rental from 1475 and is recorded in indentures from 1605, 1626, and 1651 as having 24 acres, according to the Essex Record Office.