The Poplars

The Poplars is a house located on Billericay Road in Herongate, dating from the early 18th century or earlier, with extensions added in the 19th century. The building is timber-framed, weatherboarded, and plastered, topped with a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. The main structure consists of three bays facing north, featuring a central stack and a symmetrical lobby-entrance plan. At the rear, there is an original full-width outshut with a catslide roof, along with a single-storey wing added in the 19th century, which has an end stack.

The house is two storeys tall. On the ground floor, there are two early 19th-century sash windows with 8+8 lights, equipped with hinged struts on the upper sashes. The first floor also has two early 19th-century sash windows, but these have 8+4 lights and similar struts. The central entrance features a six-panel door with two glazed top panels, sheltered by a flat canopy supported by two tubular metal stanchions. The elevation is symmetrical, with the ground floor weatherboarded and the upper floor plastered, while other walls are weatherboarded.

On the rear elevation, to the left of the rear wing, there is one early 19th-century sash window with 6+6 lights. Attached to this wall is an early 19th-century pump featuring embossed paterae and scrolls on the lead cistern, a plain knob on the wrought-iron handle, and a complete wooden case, although some parts of the mechanism are missing and reported to be loose on the premises. The rear right elevation includes one 20th-century casement window and a half-glazed four-panel door. Additionally, there are two 19th-century casement windows located in gabled dormers on the rear catslide roof. The rear wing is also timber-framed, weatherboarded, and covered with red clay Roman tiles. Inside, the interior features exposed plain joists of horizontal and square sections above the rear left room.