Great Biggins Farmhouse is a Grade II listed building in the Braintree local planning authority area, England. First listed on 21 December 1967. House.
Great Biggins Farmhouse
- WRENN ID
- noble-vault-furze
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Braintree
- Constituency
- Braintree MP: Sir James Cleverly (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 21 December 1967
- Type
- House
- Address
- Great Biggins Farmhouse, Wethersfield Road, Finchingfield
- OS grid reference
- TL 689 327
- Coordinates
- 51.96767, 0.45792
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Great Biggins Farmhouse is a house that dates back to the 16th century, with extensions added in the 18th and 20th centuries. It features a timber-framed structure that is plastered and has a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. The building has a three-bay range that runs east to west, which is likely the crosswing of a manor house that once extended to the south, although the rest of the manor has been demolished.
There is a central stack from the late 16th century, and an 18th-century extension at the north end of the east side, which includes an external stack. An 18th or 19th-century bakehouse is located to the east and was connected to the house in the 20th century. The main range has two storeys, while the northern range has one storey with attics. The south elevation features a three-window range of 20th-century casements, and there is a door at the front with a 20th-century gabled porch.
Inside the main range, there is a chamfered transverse beam (which was originally more detailed but has been damaged), heavy plain joists that are horizontally sectioned, and signs of a former jetty to the west. The large jowled posts are chamfered with step stops, and the south wallplate has an edge-halved and bridled scarf joint. The roof has clasped purlins with an arched collar, and it bears a painted legend in red and green that reads 'borne 1760 I.W. July 21 -- 38 yr 0uld', although it is incomplete. On the north upper wall of the main range, some zigzag patterned exterior plaster has been covered by the later extension. The site is also noted to have a moat.
Local climate
Great Biggins Farmhouse sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 90% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 77% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 58% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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