57 And 59, Church Street

This is a timber-framed house, likely dating to circa 1600, with alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is situated on the north-west side of Church Street, Coggeshall. The house comprises a four-bay front facing southeast, with an axial stack positioned in the second bay from the right end, creating a lobby entrance. A three-bay wing extends to the rear of the right end, and a catslide extension projects from the rear of the left end. The roof is covered with handmade red plain tiles.

The ground floor features one late 19th-century sash window of six lights, and two early 19th-century splayed bay sashes with eight, twelve, and eight lights, positioned below a full-length jetty with a moulded fascia. The first floor has one early 19th-century sash of twelve lights, and two early 19th-century tripartite sashes of four, twelve, and four lights, fitted with crown glass. A six-panel door, with the bottom panels flush and the upper panels fielded, stands in a simple moulded architrave, preceded by two stone steps. A similar door, with the two top panels glazed, is located in the lobby entrance, also within a matching architrave. Original moulded bargeboards are present on the left gable. The timber framing exhibits jowled and stepped posts and straight bracing within the studding. The lower storey of the left-hand room has undergone extension and subsequent reduction, as evidenced by the renewal of the studding with primary straight bracing. Some original studding has been removed at the rear left.

Internally, the bay to the left of the stack reveals an ovolo-moulded axial beam with converging stops. This is accompanied by re-set and re-jointed, horizontally sectioned moulded joists to the rear of it, and thinner, plain joists to the front. Further internal studding has been removed to the left of this beam, with a post introduced. Two wide wood-burning hearths are present. Both mantel beams are ovolo-moulded with converging stops; the right-hand hearth has been faced with 20th-century brick. Above the first floor, chamfered axial beams are complemented by lamb's tongue and notch stops. A wall painting, approximately one metre square, depicting a vase with flowers and the date 1682, is visible on a first-floor wall above a blocked hearth. A first-floor partition wall is finished with 17th/18th-century plank and muntin panelling made of pine. The right upper hearth is defined by a brick segmental arch, which has been repaired. Blocked windows of early glazed type are located in the right end wall at both storeys, indicating that number 61 was constructed later than this house. The rear wing shares the jowled posts and chamfered axial beams with lamb’s tongue stops, exhibiting some original wattle and daub infill in the right wall. It's likely it is of the same date as, or added soon after, the main range.