30 And 32, Stock Lane

The terrace comprises two almshouses, now cottages, dating to 1557, with later alterations. Constructed of red brick in English bond, with roughcast at the rear, the roof is of handmade red clay tiles. There are a central stack and two gable end stacks. Early 20th-century extensions to the rear feature machine-made red clay tiles. The building is single-storied. Each cottage has three 20th-century casement windows and a plain boarded door. The original bricks measure approximately 180 to 260mm long, 120mm wide, and 65mm high, set in lime mortar, similar to the brickwork of the south chapel of Ingatestone parish church. A section of the front wall to the left of the door in No.32 is rebuilt in later brick with irregularly arranged blue headers. Internal window sills are splayed. The chimney shafts were rebuilt in the 19th century. The almshouses originally formed part of a 'hospital or almshouse' for which Sir William Petre obtained a Crown licence in 1556, originally consisting of 12 buildings that extended further east. This original group was reduced by the construction of the Eastern Counties Railway in 1840. Subsequent compensation money was used by William, Lord Petre, to build 12 new almshouses and a Roman Catholic chapel on Roman Road. The windows have internal sills.