Weald House

Weald House is a residential building dating from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, situated on Weald Road in Brentwood. It is constructed of red brick with a peg-tiled mansard roof concealed behind a parapet, and features gable-end chimney-stacks.

The building is L-shaped in plan, comprising a principal range and a contemporary rear out-shut, with a 19th-century service block constructed onto the rear at the south end. The main structure rises two storeys over a basement, with attic accommodation.

The front east elevation is the principal facade, with reddened brickwork and white tuck pointing. It displays a three-window range with slight segmental heads and good voussoirs. The ground and first-floor outer windows are triple sashes with glazing bars in a 1x4, 3x4, 1x4 pane arrangement, though the sashes are of 20th-century profile despite being horned. The central first-floor window is smaller, with 3x4 panes. The ground-floor entrance is a round-headed doorway approached by steps, featuring voussoirs and a 'cobweb' fanlight with a recessed door frame set into the brickwork with bead moulding. The door itself has four recessed panes. The basement is lit by two windows in a rendered plinth; the southern opening was apparently converted into a coal shoot and is now bricked over, whilst the northern one has been replaced with a 20th-century PVC two-light casement. The attic is lit by two outer flat-roofed dormer windows with lead coverings, each containing two-light casements with glazing bars in a 4x2 pane configuration, together with a central plain skylight in the front roof pitch.

The rear west elevation displays a plain mansard roof and features an additional two-storey stack at the north end rising through the out-shut. The 19th-century ground-floor service addition at the south end has a minor gable-end chimney to the west. The out-shut is lit by three 20th-century casement windows on each floor, all in PVC with glazing bars, replacing early 20th-century iron casements. On the ground floor these comprise two two-light windows with 4x4 panes and one single-light 2x2 pane window positioned centrally on the site of a blocked back door to the house. The first-floor windows consist of one three-light 6x3 pane window, one two-light 4x3 pane window, and a central single-light 2x2 pane window. The service addition has a two-light casement window with glazing bars in a 4x3 pane configuration.

The south end elevation displays a mansard roof gable with central stack, with the out-shut prominent. The brickwork, which contains dispersed burnt headers, is continuous through both areas, adjoining the side of the 19th-century addition to the west. On the ground floor, an original doorway with good voussoirs contains a door with upper glazing in a 3x4 pane configuration and a single lower beaded flush panel. An inserted doorway in differing brick has well-made splayed jambs and voussoirs; its door is an early 20th-century iron-framed French window with fanlight and iron glazing bars with large panes. A 20th-century PVC three-light casement window with glazing bars in a 6x3 pane arrangement is also present. A large early 20th-century fully glazed French window with side lights occupies the whole wall of the 19th-century addition. The first floor has a PVC two-light casement window in an original opening with good voussoirs, featuring glazing bars in a 4x5 pane configuration.

The north end elevation features an old chimney-stack similar to those at the south and rear. At ground-floor level, a lean-to garage of no special interest and not included in the listing, constructed in yellow brick and weatherboard with a corrugated asbestos roof, contains a two-light casement window with beaded frame and glazing bars in a 4x3 pane arrangement, and a door with four flush beaded panels. The first-floor window is a PVC two-light casement in an original opening with good voussoirs, featuring glazing bars in a 4x5 pane configuration.

The building underwent extensive repairs following war damage, at which time many windows were replaced with iron-framed examples. These have subsequently been systematically replaced by PVC casements with glazing bars.

The interior is essentially plain. The staircase features a slender shaped handrail. Two lamb's-tongue chamfered and stopped binding joists are present in the cellar, and interior studding to the front wall indicates an earlier timber-framed origin dating to the 17th century, of which only fragments now remain.