Stondon Hall

Stondon Hall is a house with elements dating back to the 16th century, incorporating work from the 17th and 20th centuries. It is located in Stondon Massey, Essex.

The house is timber-framed, with rendered walls and a peg-tile roof. The original plan consisted of a principal range with a south cross-wing extending from the back to the front and a north cross-wing. A further west-facing cross-wing was added in the 19th and 20th centuries, alongside rear lean-to additions.

The west front is two-storied and largely rendered, with 20th-century replacements for most windows and doors. The south cross-wing stands out with its early 17th-century brickwork, which originally featured ovolo mouldings around the windows, now hidden beneath the rendering. This cross-wing has canted bay windows on both floors, topped by a projecting gable, with 20th-century casement glazing within the mullion frames. The north elevation of the cross-wing has a simple three-light ovolo mullioned window on the first floor, also with 20th-century glazing. A deep cornice, now triangular in section, runs around the base of the south cross-wing, though original moulding might remain beneath the rendering. An 18th-century stack is centrally positioned. The north cross-wing has an external stack with twin octagonal shafts, dating to around 1600, built with old bricks, and a 20th-century door with a simple porch. The front gable of the north cross-wing features 20th-century five-light metal casement windows on both floors. The south elevation of the wing has 20th-century wooden French doors. The main central range features 20th-century French doors and casement windows. Two stacks from around 1800 are visible behind the roof apex. The rear of the house is largely a 20th-century reconstruction, except for a 19th-century casement window with 2x4 glazing bars in a lean-to extending from the south cross-wing.

The interior is largely 20th-century, but a ground-floor room in the south cross-wing retains exposed ceiling bridging joists with lamb's tongue chamfer stops, also visible on the central fireplace lintel. Above, the first-floor ceiling has deep section joists with diminished haunched tenons. Within the main central range and continuing into the north cross-wing, a tension braced wall and a jowled post suggest a 16th-century core. There is also panelling from around 1600, used as a room divider, and a rustic Jacobean plaster overmantel of ‘Doric’ type on the first floor of the north cross-wing. It is believed the house originally had a straight 16th-century range which was later augmented by the fashionable 17th-century south brick cross-wing, and a timber-framed front cross-wing added to the north end, originally with a pair of fireplaces, one of which remains.