Bennett'S Farmhouse

BRENTWOOD

TQ69NW HALL LANE, Shenfield 723-1/6/270 (North side) 20/02/76 Bennett's Farmhouse (Formerly Listed as: HALL LANE, Shenfield Palmers Farmhouse)

II

House. C17, extended in C18/early C19, renovated c1986. Timber-framed, clad with plastered brick on ground floor, weatherboarded above, roofed with machine-made and handmade red clay tiles. Main range of 4 bays facing S, with axial stack in second bay from left end, forming a lobby-entrance, and external stack at right end. Parallel 2-storey range to rear, of same length but narrower and lower, C18/early C19, with central stack, and C19 single-storey wing to rear left. 2 storeys with attics. Ground floor, one C20 casement and two C20 sashes, and C20 sash in position of former door, with C20 gabled porch. First floor, three C20 sashes. The roof of the main range is of machine-made tiles; the roof of the rear range is hipped, of handmade tiles; the roof of the rear wing is of machine-made tiles. All windows were renewed in tropical hardwood, in earlier patterns, c1986. C18/early C19 wide plain boarded door, sand-blasted, with original hinges and internal fittings, in left elevation of rear range. INTERIOR: unjowled posts. The left bay has an axial beam supported at the left end by an inserted post, and plain joists of vertical section jointed with soffit tenons with diminished haunches; the soffits have been hacked to increase clearance. Hearth rebuilt in C20. Wide wood-burning hearth facing to right, with 0.33m jambs and a seat recess in each, original, re-pointed. Transverse beam to right of it, also hacked, and similar joists. The ground-floor partition to right of it has been removed, and replaced c1986 by inserted open studding of old timber. The right bay has a chamfered axial beam, stops missing, and thin plain joists; C20 hearth. The front wallplate has a simple edge-halved scarf 0.50m from the left end. The rear wallplate has one similar scarf, one edge-halved and bridled scarf, and one bladed scarf, indicating some re-use of earlier timber. In the left bay at the rear is an original window of early glazed type, with one ovolo mullion and diamond mortices for 2 saddle bars, sand-blasted. Altered C17 rebated and moulded door to attic, now reduced to 2 planks. Clasped purlin roof with straight collars. All exposed timber of the interior has been destructively sand-blasted, and arched braces have been introduced as decor. 2 sections of C17 oak panelling have been re-sited, turned so that the formerly vertical panels are now horizontal.

Listing NGR: TQ6047896876