17, 19 AND 21, BROOK STREET

This is a group of three cottages located on Brook Street, South Weald, originally a timber-framed house dating to the early 16th century, with significant alterations in the 18th century. The building is now rendered and colourwashed, with peg-tiled roofs. The plan is rectangular, with later additions to the rear.

The exterior is one and a half storeys high. Dormers have tile hanging on their sides. A central brick stack was added in the 19th century. A brick lean-to extends from the west end, finished with slate which continues the hipped roof as a catslide. The facade, running east to west, is four bays wide. Number 17 has a door with a lower panel and two glazed upper panels, along with two 20th-century casement windows with 3x2 panes. Above are two restored, simple gabled dormers with casement windows. Number 19 has an 18th-century door with four flush panels, an attached 18th-century sash window with thin glazing bars (3x2 panes), and a simple gabled dormer above with a moulded cornice and a sash window with glazing bars (3x2 panes). Number 21 mirrors the design of Number 19, although its window is a plain sash. The brick lean-to has a simple casement window. The north-facing rear elevation includes 20th-century additions, which are not part of the listing. Number 17 has a long, continuous brick addition from the 19th century, consisting of a two-storey section and a single-storey section. The east gable, visible, is weatherboarded, with a door having two flush panels and a fixed window of four panes. The two-storey section of Number 17 has a rendered ground floor, a weatherboarded first floor, a door with four panels, a 3-light casement window, and two casement windows above. The single-storey section of Number 21 features red and yellow brick, a slate roof, two 19th-century boarded doors, one round-headed window with cast-iron lattice glazing, and the blocked site of another window.

The interior of Number 17 retains framing from the 16th-century four-bayed house with a two-bay open hall and storeyed end bays. While much altered, the original frame is still visible, including a heavy jowled post. Number 19 contains the high end bay of the open hall, featuring central truss posts with chamfered arched braces to the tie-beam, the shape continuing down the post as a chamfered fillet. A simple crown post roof is above, with sooted collar purlins and two rising braces to them. Number 21 shows original studding, widely spaced at approximately 56cm between centers, along with two arched braces to the tie-beam. There's also a rectangular pattern of peg holes, likely for a warping frame. The 18th-century remodelling altered the roof structure, introducing side purlin construction and changing the gable ends. The east end is now a simple gable, while the west end is a full hip from gablet to tie-beam. A late 16th to early 17th-century inserted floor features diminished haunched soffit tenons. This suggests a partial 17th-century remodelling between the original house and the 18th-century form, potentially establishing the site of the central stack.