Giles Cottages

Giles Cottages, Stondon Massey

A terrace of four cottages with origins in the 16th century, substantially altered in the early 19th century, 1860, and the 20th century. A plaque on the north gable records "The gift of Henry Giles of Stondon Parish 1574, enlarged and repaired 1860".

The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with some burnt headers, and has a pantiled roof. It follows a rectangular plan with a principal range and conjoining cross ranges at the rear to the west, arranged in block form.

The east front is contrived to be almost symmetrical while providing appropriate windows and doors for the inner units. The elevation is two storeys high with clasping giant pilasters with simple capitals at the north and south ends. All windows are 19th-century 2-light cast-iron casements with 6 by 4 panes in each light, featuring Gothic cusping and two centred arches to the top panes. Ground floor windows are set in triangular arched brick window heads. Three central timber porches on brick base piers, each with shaped barge boards and pendants in flat tiled gables, project from the front. The arrangement from north to south reads: two windows, porch with door, window, porch with window, window, porch with door, window. The doors are of heavy boarding with ornamental C-strap hinges and four upper lights, with triangular arched heads. The first floor has five windows with flat heads set above those below, except for the central window in the porch. The roof features three regularly spaced rectangular stacks with diagonally set shafts.

The north and south end elevations are almost identical, with porches for the doors of numbers 1 and 4 projecting from the gable ends, each with shaped barge boards and a triangular recess above the door. An inscription appears at the north end; the south end is blank.

The rear extensions are two storeys. The rear edge of the main range and the west end of the extension are defined by pilasters. At the south end, some 19th-century brickwork with burnt headers survives, though the whole rear section has been reworked in the 20th century. Doors to the west resemble the front doors, with porch heads supported on braces from the wall. To the east, windows on both ground and first floors are 20th-century wooden casements with leaded lights in triangular heads, imitating the 19th-century style. The rear west elevation features four conjoined gabled bays of 20th-century construction, with doors and windows made in approximate 19th-century style. Ground floor doors are set in triangular headed doorways with boarded doors and 4 by 4 paned leaded lights with Gothic arched tops. Windows are 2-light casements in triangular arched heads with 6 by 4 leaded panes, and all other windows are 4-light casements under triangular heads. The ground floor has two windows in the outer bays, and the first floor has four windows, one in each bay.

Interior

Original principal framing of the 16th century survives at the rear, with top wall plates level with the lower part of the first floor front windows and rafter seating regularly spaced. Walls were subsequently raised in timber to the present height in primary bracing with slender studs typical of the early 19th century. Walls were then skimmed with brickwork and rear extensions were added in 1860. The 20th century saw rebuilding of the rear range. The early fireplaces are narrow with high timber lintels designed for raised hearths, using reused timber. These fireplaces were probably improved in the early 19th century.