Porter's Farmhouse

Porter's Farmhouse is a house dating from around 1600, with alterations made in the 18th and 20th centuries. It is timber framed and plastered, with a roof covered in handmade red plain tiles. The house has four bays facing southeast, with a stack located at the rear of the right bay and a 20th-century single-storey extension beyond. There is also a 20th-century crosswing at the left end that extends to the rear. A lean-to from the 18th or 19th century runs along the back of the main range, creating a catslide roof with the main structure. The building has two storeys and attics, featuring a three-window range of 19th-century casements and a 20th-century door set within a pedimented doorcase. Originally designed as a lobby-entrance house, the internal stack has been demolished. The structure includes jowled posts, and all arched braces to the tiebeams have been removed. There is an edge-halved and bridled scarf joint in the rear wallplate, and some original wattle and daub infill is visible in the rear wall, enclosed by the lean-to extension, along with some hardwood weatherboarding. The interior features chamfered axial beams with convex and lamb's tongue stops, and an original clasped purlin roof with both straight and curved wind-bracing. On the ground floor, in the second bay from the right end, there is an early 19th-century corner cupboard with reeded jambs, a semi-elliptical arch, and elaborately profiled shelves. In the next bay to the left, there is an early 18th-century pine corner cupboard with two single-panel doors, featuring 18th-century butterfly hinges on the lower door and cockshead hinges on the upper door. The first-floor landing has two 18th or early 19th-century battened doors, with another in the unlit attic. Most other internal doors are Victorian four-panel types. The farmhouse is situated on a moated site. Historical records from the Essex Record Office show conveyances dating from 1588, and a lease and release from 1769 is held by the current owner. Sale catalogues from 1784 and 1913 indicate that the house was associated with farms of 138 and 152 acres, respectively, and it is part of the manor of Felix Hall. A photograph of the house before renovation can be found in B.L. Kentish's "Kelvedon and its Antiquities," published in 1974.