Mashams

Mashams is a hall house dating to around 1400, altered in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It is timber framed with exposed frame, plastered externally, and has a thatched roof.

The building consists of a 2-bay hall aligned approximately east to west, with an integral storeyed parlour or solar to the east and a crosswing to the west. Originally the building was jettied to the south, but this has since been underbuilt. The roof is hipped at the west and half-hipped at the east. The structure is single storey with attics, rising to 2 storeys in the crosswing.

The south elevation contains the original main doorway, which has a 3-centred arch but is now blocked internally by an inserted brick chimney stack dating to the late 16th or early 17th century. This blocking creates an alcove accessible only from outside. The current entrance is to the north. The south elevation is lit by three 20th-century leaded casement windows on the ground floor, with one additional window and another in an eyebrow dormer above.

The internal framing is exposed and includes jowled posts, heavy studding, and curved braces trenched outside. The construction employs interrupted tiebeam work at the east end. Much of the wattle and daub infill in both external and internal walls remains largely intact. The hall window to the north has a transom, a heavy centre mullion, and two diamond mullions on each side, with 20th-century leaded glazing applied externally. The central tiebeam is cambered and chamfered below in two orders, with one deep arched brace. An octagonal central crownpost with four arched braces sits above. The original roof of the main block remains intact with all rafters, collars, and collar-purlin present. The roof of the crosswing has been rebuilt.

A timber-framed smoke hood of mid-16th-century date survives in a rare state, covering the whole west bay of the hall from tiebeam to tiebeam. A brick chimney was later inserted inside this structure in the late 16th century, but the timber frame remains unaltered. A second brick chimney, constructed back to back with the first in the early 17th century, occupies the original cross-entry, blocking it and creating the external alcove previously described.

The original floor in the east bay contains lodged longitudinal joists of horizontal section. An inserted floor in the east bay of the hall has longitudinal joists of vertical section and is exposed, retaining original floorboards. The south wallplate shows edge-halved and bridled scarf joinery.

The house preserves an exceptional number of original features and demonstrates clearly a sequence of development common in other Essex hall houses, though the evidence has been lost in most. Until the 16th century, the house had an open hall with a hearth in the west bay, separated from the cross-entry by a screen of non-flammable material, probably flint rubble or mud. In the early or mid-16th century, a timber-framed structure and pyramidal smoke hood were built around the hearth, occupying the west bay from tiebeam to tiebeam—all of which survives. A floor was subsequently inserted in the hall, with the upper room initially lit by the upper part of the hall window. A dormer window was later added, with evidence from the Walker maps in Essex Record Office suggesting this occurred after 1600. In the early 17th century, a second brick chimney was built back to back with the first, blocking the cross-entry and converting the original service end to a parlour. The original parlour at the east end became the service room, a function it retains. The building's asymmetry—the first chimney stack being off-centre against the south wall—resulted in the development of a lobby-entrance to the north, where it has remained. The jetty was underbuilt using the same timbers, and the house was subsequently clad with weatherboards over the original wattle and daub. The weatherboarding was removed in the early 20th century, since when no other significant alterations have been made.