75, Bradford Street

691/3/37 BRADFORD STREET 22-MAR-1957 BOCKING (West side) 75

II*

A house dating from the C14 with with C18, C19 and C20 additions and alterations.

MATERIALS: Timber framed with rendered infill. Plain tiles to the roof. Brick extensions. PLAN: Original building is of two cells with two storeys. Extensions added to north, south and west elevations. EXTERIOR: The tiled roof is gabled at the east end fronting Bradford Street and hipped with a gablet at the west end, and has a brick chimney stack on the north slope. The Bradford Street elevation has exposed timber framing in the gable and evidence of the former jetty at first floor level which has been underbuilt. It also has two eight-over-eight sash windows at ground floor level and a similar window at first floor level. The south elevation has rendered walling and C20 lean-to porch at ground floor level and exposed vertical timber studding and a tension brace at first floor level. The first floor of this elevation also has a two-light C14 window with an elaborate timber tracery head and a six-over-six sash window. Along the north elevation facing Woolpack Lane is a C18 century lean-to extension with a catslide roof extending over and three C20 windows. To the west end is a brick extension.

INTERIOR: Studding is evident to the south and west walls at first floor level and arched braces to the central truss supporting a crown post with a moulded cap and base, four-way bracing and a double-jowled head clasping the collar purlin. There are faint traces of soot blackening to the hipped end of the roof

HISTORY: This building dates from C14. Whilst it is now a house, the fact that its first floor appears to have had no internal partitions suggests that it might originally have had some non-domestic use.

SOURCES: RCHME, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex North West, 1916, Vol. 1. Essex County Council, Historic Towns in Essex, Bocking, Historic Towns Assessment Report, 1999.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: This building is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons. * A rare survival of a building dating from the early C14, and therefore a particularly important building of more than special interest. * The survival of an intact C14 timber frame, including a complete window with timber tracery to its upper body.