Q8 Petroleum Service Station

Q8 Petroleum Service Station, Hutton Road, Shenfield

A timber-framed house originally dating from the 14th century, extended and altered through the 16th, 17th, early 19th and 20th centuries, and now in use as a petroleum service station. The building comprises a 14th-century hall of two bays facing north-east, a two-bay service cross-wing to the right, with a 16th-century stack inserted in the right bay of the hall and a 17th-to-18th-century external stack to the right of the front bay. A 17th-century stair tower stands to the rear of the right bay of the hall, with a later wing to the rear of the left bay and an external stack in the angle between them, largely rebuilt in the 19th century. A single-storey lean-to extension extends to the right of the stair tower.

The building is two storeys in height. The early 19th-century brick facade, executed in high-quality red brick laid in Flemish bond with red mortar and white tuck pointing, forms the principal elevation. The ground floor is now largely occupied by 20th-century showroom windows and a glazed door, with only small areas of the original early 19th-century brickwork visible. A band of cement render marks the first-floor level, above which three early 19th-century sash windows are positioned, containing 8+8, 6+6 and 8+8 lights respectively, with flat arches of gauged brick above. The remainder of the building is weatherboarded, faced with red brick, or rendered, with some areas of exposed timber studding. The roofing throughout comprises handmade and machine-made red clay tiles. The left end of the hall roof is hipped, with the front pitch clad in handmade tiles and the rear pitch in machine-made tiles. The cross-wing displays an original gablet hip at the front and an 18th-to-early-19th-century hip at the rear, both covered with machine-made tiles.

The early 19th-century brick facade continues around the left return of the main range to a straight joint marking the rear wing. The ground floor of this elevation features a blocked original window aperture with a flat arch of gauged brick and an original doorway with a semi-elliptical arch of gauged brick, a blocked tympanum, and a moulded plaster surround (altered at the left jamb), now fitted with a 20th-century half-glazed door. Above this is one 19th-century inserted casement. Beyond the straight joint, two mid-19th-century sash windows of 3+3 lights with segmental brick arches are visible; other windows on this elevation are 20th-century casements. The butt of a beam projects from the right elevation at first-floor level. The rear elevation of the right cross-wing contains one 19th-century casement at first-floor level, and a similar but defective casement appears in the rear elevation of the stair tower. The early 19th-century brick facade extends around the right return as far as the external stack, on which flue headers are visible at first-floor level only.

The interior of the ground floor is now entirely faced with modern finishes. The few visible features of the earlier structure are a chamfered axial beam with roll stops, forming part of the 16th-century inserted floor in the left bay of the hall, and the mantel beam of the 16th-century inserted stack, which is moulded on the left side and deeply chamfered to the right, with no brickwork below it. The 16th-century stack bricks measure 0.23 to 0.24 metres in length and 0.05 metres in height. The upper part of the stack, in the roof apex and above, has been rebuilt in the 19th century.

The structure of the 14th-century hall remains largely intact above first-floor level, with chamfered posts and wallplates featuring mitred stops. The front wallplate has been severed for an early 19th-century sash in the left bay and may similarly have been severed in the right bay. A hollow-chamfered cranked central tie-beam, with hollow-chamfered arched braces rising to meet it, is present; a small section of the front brace has been cut out for an inserted closet door, and the rear brace appears to remain within a partition wall. The tie-beam is morticed to receive moulded covings. The front wall has been raised approximately 1.20 metres above the original wallplate, leaving most of the original wall and roof structure in place.

A cross-quadrate crownpost with two curved braces rising to meet the rafters immediately below the collar is present; the collar-purlin and axial braces are missing. The left bay of the roof retains three original rafter couples and collars; other original rafters have been re-set. The former gable has been altered to a hip in the 18th or early 19th century, with a higher softwood roof added to the front. The cross-wing displays posts with long tapering jowls, chamfered and stopped as in the hall; the left wallplate is similarly finished, while the right wallplate is concealed. The central tie-beam of the cross-wing has been severed, and the crownpost originally mounted upon it has been displaced slightly to the rear. The front bay of this roof is otherwise complete, with collar-purlin, collars, rafters, and gablet hip intact. The rear bay remains intact except for a hip inserted in the 18th or early 19th century. Some pink paint, not original but surviving from the period when the crownpost was moved, remains visible on the timber framing.

The first floor throughout the building retains five 18th-to-early-19th-century plain boarded and ledged internal doors with original hinges. The hardwood floorboards of the first floor are butt-edged. The rear left wing has been substantially modernised internally. The stair tower continues in use as such.