Abridge Motor Spares Robert Chappell, Butcher

A hall house dating from the 14th century, extended in the 20th century and now comprising two shops with accommodation above. The building is timber-framed with plaster and painted brick, roofed with handmade red clay tiles.

The original structure consists of a two-bay hall aligned approximately north to south with a western aspect, featuring a cross-entry at the north end (the original service end is missing) and a two-bay parlour or solar crosswing, also 14th century, at the south end. This crosswing is jettied to the west. A chimney stack was inserted at the south end of the hall in the late 16th century, serving both the hall and crosswing. An inserted floor and dormer were added to the hall in the early 17th century.

A shop with accommodation over was added to the north of the hall around 1910, occupying the site of the original service end. This addition is jettied to the west but has a roof aligned north to south. A rear wing dates from the same period or later. A single-storey extension with a flat roof treated as a terrace was added to the rear of the hall and south crosswing in the 20th century. The rear pitch of the hall roof was removed in the 20th century and replaced by glazed doors opening onto the terrace. A small lean-to extension was added at the north end in the 20th century.

The building is two storeys. The ground floor includes a shopfront of glazed tiles for Robert Chappell, butcher; the front of the hall in painted brick with dentils below the eaves, a plain door and 20th-century casement window; and a shopfront of painted brickwork for Abridge Motor Spares with two plain brackets and plastered jetty. The first floor features red clay tile hanging on the north wing, a gabled dormer in the hall roof with a 20th-century casement window, and a 20th-century casement window in the south crosswing.

Internally, the eaves of the hall at jetty level have rafters that are heavily smoke-blackened. The axial beam is plain-chamfered with lamb's tongue stops at both ends, dating from the early 17th century. Joists are plastered to soffits and lodged on the outer walls. Studs are exposed between the cross-entry (still in use) and the rest of the hall. Although no other wall framing or floor framing is exposed, it is believed to be substantially present within the plaster, though doorheads are probably missing owing to raised floor levels.

The north ground floor hearth has been reduced for a 20th-century grate, but the mantel beam is exposed. This beam is moulded and carved with a shallow foliate design featuring a snake at one end and a cross at the other. The roll-moulding turns downwards at each end, indicating that before the brick stack was built, there was a timber-framed chimney in the same position, with the moulding continuing down the side posts. A hole for a spit mechanism is visible at the east end.

The south wallplate of the crosswing features a splayed and undersquinted scarf. The crownpost roof of the crosswing remains intact, with a hipped rear section and gabled front. The crownpost is plain with wide axial braces only. A 19th-century cast iron grate is reported on the first floor of the crosswing, currently concealed by plaster.

Below the jetty of the south crosswing is a wooden rack with iron hooks and brackets, associated with a 19th-century open shopfront for the display of game and other goods—an unusual survival.

This building is of exceptional interest for several reasons. It is one of the few survivors of a type of house formerly common in Essex and frequently illustrated in the Walker maps (1584-1615) at Essex Record Office, in which the walls of the hall were no higher than the lower storey of the crosswing; most examples were later raised when a chimney and floor were inserted in the 16th century. It is the oldest secular building in the parish. The timber frame appears to be largely intact, except for the rear pitch of the hall roof. The unusual carved mantel beam is of particular note. The positions of the chamfer stops on the axial beam demonstrate that the cross-entry has never ceased to be used.