County Library and Local History Museum is a Grade II listed building in the Braintree local planning authority area, England. First listed on 25 June 1974. Library, museum. 1 related planning application.
County Library and Local History Museum
- WRENN ID
- grim-footing-summer
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Braintree
- Constituency
- Witham MP: Priti Patel (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 25 June 1974
- Type
- Library, museum
- Address
- County Library and Local History Museum, Maldon Road, Kelvedon, CO5 9BA
- OS grid reference
- TL 859 182
- Coordinates
- 51.83223, 0.69778
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The County Library and Local History Museum, originally a school, is an 18th-century building that has been altered and extended in the 19th century. It is constructed of red brick in English bond, with some sections extended in Flemish bond, and features a roof made of handmade red plain tiles. The building has a rectangular plan facing southeast and includes an axial stack at the right end. A late 19th-century extension is located to the right, while 20th-century single-storey extensions are present at both ends; the left end extensions are weatherboarded and have roofs covered with red clay pantiles.
At the front, there is a late 19th-century gabled porch in the Gothic Revival style. The building is one storey high and has two late 19th-century Gothic Revival windows, each consisting of four lights with four-centred heads set in a segmental arch, along with three casements in the right extension. The entrance features a Gothic Revival door. The original structure has a double-chamfered plinth, and on the left end, there is a blocked high window, killers, and a vent in the gable. Inside, the roof is a butt-purlin design with four bays, ceiled in four cants, and includes principals that are ovolo-moulded with lamb's tongue stops, as well as two chamfered tiebeams with lamb's tongue stops and plain purlins.
Notably, the date 1743 is displayed in a cartouche in high relief on the middle of the rear wall. The porch is depicted on the First Edition 25-inch Ordnance Survey map from 1875, while the right extension appears for the first time on the Second Edition from 1895.
Local climate
County Library and Local History Museum sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 680 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 60% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 20 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 78% of listed buildings. Of these, 10 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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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- 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
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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