Walletts

Walletts is a timber-framed house on Great Warley Street in Great Warley, with origins in the early 16th century, later alterations dating from around 1600, and extensive external refacing from around 1900. The building is roofed in peg tiles.

The house is laid out as an H-plan hall house facing east, with an additional rear stair tower. It comprises two gabled cross-wings of two storeys with jettied upper floors, enclosing a central hall of one storey with an attic. A cruciform brick stack dating from around 1600 (later restored) rises at the south end of the hall, with a rebuilt cross-passage door positioned in line. A substantial L-shaped wing of around 1900 was added to the southwest corner; this later addition is not of special interest and falls outside this listing.

The exterior east front was refaced around 1900 with covering boards over the timber-framing, though the underlying structure remains evident. The ground floors are rendered over. The building shows two distinct phases of medieval construction. The northern cross-wing is the oldest element, dating from the early 16th century and characterised by wide-set studding, tension bracing, and foot bracing rising to a crown-post. The southern cross-wing dates from around 1600 and exhibits closer studding, no external bracing, and a queen-post roof with voids in the framing indicating the former position of a frieze window. The hall's framing is indeterminate but likely contemporary with the first phase, retaining the full medieval arrangement of a cross passage. All windows throughout the house date from around 1900, featuring oak frames, metal casements, and leaded panes arranged with careful attention to each elevation: the east front has 4-light windows to the ground floor of both the south cross-wing and hall, a 3-light window to the north cross-wing ground floor, a 4-light window to the first floor of the south wing, a 2-light attic window to the hall, and a 3-light window to the north wing first floor.

The rear west elevation reveals the north cross-wing and hall, together with the stair tower aligned with the stack. The north cross-wing displays framing similar to the east front; a 1900s red-brick stack occupies the centre line, with brickwork extending to the north edge at ground floor level and incorporating a narrow single-light window, with a second single-light window positioned to the south of the stack. The hall's upper framing is indicated, including a broader member marking the site of the central truss. A boarded door of around 1900 with a `Tudor' arched head and a 2-light window serve the hall. The stair tower has a hipped roof to the rear, with a 2-light window at ground floor and indicated framing and a 2-light window at first floor.

The south end elevation shows the south wing with broader posts marking three bays, corner tension bracing, and a rendered ground floor. A boarded door with `Tudor' arched head, one 4-light window and one 1-light window are present at ground floor; the first floor carries one 3-light and one single-light casement. The north end elevation exhibits the north wing with rendered ground floor save for a single visible storey post; the first floor shows indicated framing similar to the front, with a central 2-light window.

The interior of the hall contains posts of the central truss bearing deep mortices for missing rising arched braces and simple stopped chamfers, as well as straight doorheads for doors of around 1600. The cross-passage door was reinstated to its original position around 1900. The high end cross-wall retains joints for display arched bracing and peg holes for a bench; two quasi-service door arches were inserted into this frame around 1900 (positioned at the wrong end of the hall). Back-to-back fireplaces of around 1600, constructed in brick with timber lintels and modified around 1900, serve both the hall and the south cross-wing. The hall contains an inserted ceiling, probably of the same period or slightly later, integrated into the stack with deep-section joists, pendant soffits, and a bridging joist of reused timber. The south cross-wing's ground-floor room retains oak panelling, well fitted but missing its frieze; only wall plates and tie-beams are visible at first floor. The north cross-wing's ground floor preserves its original binding joist; the first floor displays the principal outer framing only, with a central truss bearing arched braces to the tie-beam and a crown post rising through the present ceiling, the base featuring broach stopped chamfers. Carpenters' marks and candle or rush-light burn marks are visible throughout. The stair tower contains a well-made dogleg stair of around 1600 with a shaped handrail, acorn finials on newel posts, turned banisters, and decorated strings featuring arabesques and parallelogram panels.

The house exemplifies modifications typical of late 16th and early 17th-century house development in Essex, particularly the insertion of stacks in the cross passage with back-to-back fireplaces. The repositioning of the entry door brought it into line with the newly built stair tower to serve the upper room, including a new room created by the horizontal division of the hall. Walletts forms part of a group of buildings around the green.