Gaynes Park

Gaynes Park is a very large, late 19th-century house incorporating remnants of late 18th and early 19th-century buildings. It is constructed of grey stone facing and red brick, with a grey slate roof. The asymmetrical plan features a crosswing to the left, adjoined to the right by a two-storey porch. To the right of the porch are four bays with two feature gables. All gables and crosswings have stone coping, finials, and balls. The property includes stone diamond-pierced railed parapets, four large gargoyles, and various decorative banding. The top floor has a three-window range with three-light crossed transoms. The ground and first floors have a 1:1:4 range of five-light crossed transoms. A Tudor arch with moulded spandrels forms the porch entrance, topped by a diamond-railed parapet. Both return facades are stone-faced, but with differing features; the left return has a grand porch and door, while the rear is of red brick, showing several windows from earlier houses.

The interior retains many good late 19th-century features, notably a grand entrance hall with a central staircase ascending to a gallery supported by six Ionic columns and a half-round centre bay. A second staircase has twisted balusters. Other features include coloured tiled floors, panelled doors, waincots, and dados. The dining room is fully panelled, with a matching fire surround and portrait spaces. The library is largely complete, with bookshelves to three sides and a walkway gallery at half height. Original ladders remain in situ. Each bookshelf division features vertical panels of hand-carved fruit and flowers, and horizontal edges carved with leaf motifs; the room measures approximately 50 by 30 feet. A late 18th-century bell, suspended on wrought iron brackets at the rear of the house, retains its original bell pull to the rear door.

The property was originally part of a Medieval Deer Park and was known as Gaines, with a house located south of the present building. Subsequent names included Park Hall in the 18th and 19th centuries. Queen Elizabeth held a council at the site when it was the home of Sir William Fitzwilliam. Latterly, it was owned by the Earls of Anglesey. The house was demolished in 1740 and rebuilt on the current site by 1777. The Chisenhale-Marsh family acquired the property in 1792 and altered it using grey brick before 1818, introducing Venetian windows (some of which remain at the rear and in outbuildings). Further additions and alterations were carried out by Thomas Coxhead Chisenhale-Marsh circa 1870. Until recently, the gardens were considered among the finest in Essex.