Dunton Hills

House with cottage attached, dating from the 17th century with major additions around 1800 and further alterations in the 20th century. Located on Tilbury Road, East Horndon.

The building is constructed of black brick with red brick dressings and diapering at the north end. The rear and cottage have been substantially restored in the 20th century using red brick and weatherboarding. The roofs are covered in peg tiles with hipped forms throughout.

The plan is L-shaped, comprising a principal north-south range with a smaller parallel range to the east and a north end lean-to with a cottage projecting eastwards.

The west front elevation dates from around 1800 and presents a two-storey building with attics. Brick pilaster buttresses occur at the north and south ends, with the southern buttress reinforced by a later battered buttress. There are seven principal bays with six original windows, all of which are sashes with 4x4 panes and thin glazing bars, some containing old glass. The ground floor windows have voussoir segment heads. Smaller 20th-century sashes with 2x2 panes have been inserted at the north end on both floors. The central bay features a 20th-century front doorway with a dentilled gabled head, fluted jambs, and a fielded panelled door with decorative red brick patterning above. Three equally spaced hipped peg-tiled dormer windows with 20th-century double casements (2x2 panes) break the roofline. The principal chimney stack is positioned off-centre towards the north, with additional end stacks piercing the roof hip pitches. The north end has a lean-to wall dating from around 1800 with some burnt brick, while the south end is continued by a conservatory.

The rear east elevation has been almost entirely rebuilt in the 20th century with wood and metal casement windows with rectangular leaded panes. The principal range has a catslide roof covering a rear lean-to. To the south is a two-storey block behind the front range with its own hipped roof; its ground floor has two boarded doors with bull's-eye lights, and windows comprising two single and two double casements, with a battered buttress at the south end. The first floor is weatherboarded with one double casement, two triple casements, and one cross-form window. The centre lean-to wall has two double casements and a large 8x4 paned fixed window. Above, a double casement hipped-roofed dormer breaks through the roof pitch, adjacent to a protruding hipped roof stair tower, which is weatherboarded with a rear casement window. The principal house stack rises at the roof apex.

The cottage wing's south elevation has irregular 20th-century fenestration with similar windows throughout: ground floor features one single and one triple casement; the first floor has windows of two casements and one of three casements. The east elevation is a plain gabled wall with an exterior stack, stated to be entirely of 20th-century construction. The north end elevation has been considerably rebuilt in the 20th century with matching windows to the rear. Below the catslide roof is a boarded door with a bull's-eye and three double casement windows to the north principal cottage elevation; the ground floor has a boarded door with bull's-eye and a single casement window, while the first floor has windows of two and three casements respectively. A 20th-century weatherboarded gable occurs at the south end.

The south end elevation displays twin hipped ends of the principal and rear ranges, with battered buttresses on the east and west sides. A black brick stack of around 1800 pierces the principal roof pitch, while a plain exterior stack serves the rear block. The principal front unit has 20th-century ground floor French windows now concealed by a 20th-century conservatory; the first floor has two 20th-century top-hung casement windows (2x2 panes).

Internally, the principal range has been considerably rebuilt around 1800 and again in the 20th century. However, binding joists on the ground and first floors survive from the original early 17th-century build, displaying chamfered tops with the typical additional rear notch characteristic of the period. The original structure was timber-framed comprising three cells; the original stack site is preserved by the present chimney within the house. A rear 17th-century stair tower frame remains, now extended eastwards and containing a 20th-century stair. The attics, though now ceiled, retain the appropriate form of the 17th century with high collars that enabled the roof space to be used. The rear block has ground floor internal studded walling of 17th-century date. A lean-to runs along the back of the house; the north end lean-to features a high lintelled fireplace and was probably also timber-framed, reputedly serving as a bakehouse. The cottage wing similarly preserves simple internal timber-framing, with first floor 17th-century straight corner down-braces.

The around-1800 additions introduced a symmetrical brick frontage with a central hall and principal rooms on each side. The thickness of the front brick wall conceals the 17th-century chamfer stops on the early joists, which are visible only at the back of the house. Several cast-iron fire grates of around 1800 survive on both ground and first floors.

20th-century alterations include the widening of principal ground floor rooms by extension into the rear range, requiring suspension of old upper framing. Considerable interior woodwork has been renewed using reeded moulding for door surrounds and detail.