Black Horse Inn

The Black Horse Inn is a public house dating back to the 15th century, with significant alterations in the late 16th century and the 20th century. It is situated on Ongar Road, Pilgrims Hatch, Brentwood. The building is timber-framed, with a rendered exterior featuring applied imitation timber framing, and has peg-tiled roofs. It has a rectangular plan, incorporating a central block and cross-wings, with a rear addition and a lean-to out-shut to the north end.

The front, or east, elevation has a roof ridge that is higher over the central range than the end cross-wings. There is a rebuilt central stack and two smaller 18th or 19th century stacks located on the north and south end walls. The front has a 1:2:1 window arrangement, with mainly 19th-century horned sash windows with glazing bars. A 20th-century brick plinth and a replacement wall were added to the north end, along with two identical projecting porches with gabled roofs and mock studding, fully glazed with imitation old glass. The ground floor features a 4x4 pane sash window, a porch, a boarded door with an upper light, two 4x4 and 5x4 pane sash windows, a second porch, a 3-light 19th-century window with 1x4, 4x4, 1x4 panes, and a first floor with four 4x4 pane sash windows.

The rear, or west, elevation is largely obscured by 20th-century additions in red and yellow brick; only the roofs are visible. The cross-wings have hipped ends. Two 20th-century units are set to the north, including a lean-to with a flat roof and a metal double casement window with five 4-pane sections. To the south, a flat-roofed 20th-century addition features a metal casement window, wood and metal casement window with small rectangular leaded panes, and three similar fixed windows with leaded panes, one with an added upper casement. The south end elevation has an 18th or 19th century stack, a 20th-century bow window on a brick base with 7x4 panes, a 2-leaved glazed door with 2x3 panes, and a fixed light with 4x5 leaded panes under a flat roof. The north elevation is inaccessible.

The interior has been extensively reorganized. The cross-wings contain two bays, featuring 15th-century external tension bracing on the south and arched external bracing dating from around 1500 on the north. A central “hall” roof was raised to accommodate an upper floor. A remnant of a molded fireplace lintel, inserted in the late 16th century and featuring triple rolls and double cymas separated by a roll, remains on the ground floor. The north end cross-wing exhibits a compression mark on the joist ends, indicating a former jetty. A staircase is located at the rear of the hall block, likely once part of a tower. All fireplaces have been rebuilt.