Langtons

A house of complex development spanning from the mid-16th century through the 19th century, located on Sandpit Lane, Pilgrims Hatch.

The building is constructed of red brick with a peg-tiled roof. It comprises an original rectangular plan with irregular rear additions forming a cluster of units in both L-shaped and parallel block configurations.

The front elevation, which faces west, is of early 18th-century date and displays red brick with burnt headers. Two storeys and an attic are present. The principal stack stands to the south of centre, with a second stack on the north end gable. The front is organised into nine narrow bays separated by giant terminal pilasters, with two similar pilasters framing the central three bays. All windows are segment-headed with aprons on the first floor. They are flush cased with moulded frames and feature horned sashes with glazing bars in 2x4 pane configuration. The third bay from the north has a blind window on the first floor; the seventh bay's first-floor window is blocked. The central doorway has an open pediment and a semicircular fan-light with radial glazing bars. The door itself has six bolection-moulded panels. Marks on the wall indicate the door-case has been renewed, with evidence of a formerly wider door-case.

The rear (east) elevation is complex. Its principal feature is a 17th-century rear wing with a gable end, now brick-infilled, though originally timber-framed. To the north is a 19th-century gabled addition, and centrally on the 17th-century gable sits a 19th-century two-storey narrow projection with a 19th-century stack to the south. North to south across this group, the ground floor contains a casement window with segment head and glazing bars in 4x2 panes, a simple brick lean-to with peg tiling and a casement window of 2x2 panes, and a 20th-century glazed door with 2x3 panes. The two-storey projection has a round-headed casement window with glazing bars in 3x2 panes. On the first floor beneath the gable is a two-light casement with glazing bars in 4x3 panes. South of the gable, the wall is weatherboarded. A stair tower serving the front block has a first-floor sash window with glazing bars in 4x4 panes. Adjacent to the ground floor is a projecting flat-roofed addition angled back to the south, containing two two-light casement windows with glazing bars in 4x4 panes and a simple three-paned narrow window. South of this is a 19th-century one-and-a-half storey addition with a gable end to the south, a 19th-century door with two lower panels and two glazed upper panels, a simple three-paned narrow window, and a gabled dormer in the roof above containing a two-light casement with glazing bars in 2x2 panes.

The north elevation features double brick end gables, facing east and west. The west end gable shows several brick phases, particularly 17th-century brickwork to the east with a straight joint to 18th-century walling to the west, and 19th-century brickwork above. The ground floor contains a segment-headed casement window with glazing bars in 2x2 panes, and an attic window is a segment-headed two-light casement. A 19th-century east gable block projects with a central projecting stack and four similar 19th-century segment-headed sash windows (two on ground floor and two on first floor).

The south gable end elevation is mainly weatherboarded, with the principal block to the west and a one-and-a-half storey addition projecting to the east. The west end gable has a front brick wall with a pilaster to the west side, a ground-floor 20th-century French window with an upper glazed fan-light above a pantiled lean-to pentice, and a first-floor sash window with moulded architrave and glazing bars in 3x4 panes. The east one-and-a-half storey block has a central sash window with side lights with glazing bars in 1x2, 2x4 and 2x2 panes, and a stack on the west side.

The interior reveals multiple phases of development. Phase one, mid-16th century, is evidenced by principal joists in the ground-floor ceiling with step stops, framed round the principal stack. Fireplaces have been renewed, though the arrangement suggests a three-celled lobby entrance house. One binding joist of the chimney bay features a chamfer stop set well within the house, and a filled soffit joint implies a long jettied frontage originally existed. Wide framing of the joists round the stack, together with the early 16th-century date, suggests the house may originally have had a timber chimney, replaced by the brick one in the early 17th century, which would account for the later date of the first-floor ceiling round the stack.

Phase two, early 17th century, comprises a stair tower with stumps of original newel posts beneath later ones. A timber-framed rear wing was added towards the north end, featuring a jowled post, a bladed scarf joint in the wall plate, and a butt side purlin roof. When this rear wing was added, the back wall of the original block was removed on the first floor between the blocks, creating a corridor with a Jacobean dado and strapwork frieze. A few remaining stud posts serve as support and are plastered as classical pilasters. First-floor ceilings in rooms either side of the stack were rebuilt with lambs' tongue chamfer stops. A fragment of early 17th-century panelling survives on the ground floor. The north end of the original block was partly rebuilt in brick during this phase.

Phase three, early 18th century, involved a complete refurbishment in brick, creating the nine-bay frontage. Windows feature shutters and panelled reveals. A stair with a shaped handrail and turned balusters was inserted into the stair tower. Principal rooms are panelled. Back stairs were inserted into the north-west angle of the 17th-century rear wing. A fitted curved corner cupboard in the central room is probably contemporary with this phase.

Phase four comprises 19th-century additions to the rear, set around the stair tower and leaving exterior weatherboarding exposed on the interior. 19th-century end extensions project beyond the house at both north and south ends of the rear range. Some panelling in the house is simple and may be 19th-century in date.

Sun and Phoenix (Royal Exchange) fire insurance marks appear on the front wall.