Marchings Farmhouse

TQ 49 NE 2/1 28.6.54

CHIGWELL GRAVEL LANE Marchings Farmhouse

II

House of C16 or C17 origin, much altered in C19. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. Complex plan consisting essentially of main range aligned approx. NW-SE with axial chimney stack near NW end, aspect SW, service range to rear of SE end with one internal and one external chimney stack, crosswing at NW end, several rear extensions. 2 storeys with attics. SW elevation: ground floor, one C20 half-glazed door, french windows of Gothick style, C19, 3 Gothick casement windows, one not. First floor, 2 C19 casement windows, one C20 casement window, 3 dormers with C20 casements. Attic floor: one C19 casement window in gable of crosswing, leaded casement window, C20, and lean-to dormers with C19 casement windows. The interior is mainly C19, including many Gothick features. One blocked unglazed window with 2 diamond mullions is present on the first floor of the SE elevation, and a beam with lamb's tongues stops is exposed near the SW entrance. Stone column bases of a structure of unknown origin have been exposed approx. 4 metres N of the house. The occupation of the site has been traced in a report by Dr.F.G. Emmison of Essex Record Office dated 6 October 1949, beginning in 1427, and another by C. Johnson of Chigwell Public Libraries. The rear parts of the house incorporate the workshops of John Roger Arnold, 1736-1843, maker of chronometers and watches, who bought the house in 1800 (G.H. Baillie: Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World).

Listing NGR: TQ4633795490