Heybridge Mill House, Channels And Substructure

This is a late 18th and early 19th century timber-framed mill house, now a house, situated near Channels and substructure. The front range has a plain tile roof, while the rear has slate roofs, with some later extensions.

The main range is two storeys with a cellar, featuring a three-window front. The front features a plain parapet and three 16-pane sash windows with moulded surrounds on the first floor. A projecting stucco porch has a semicircular arched entrance with a keystone and imposts, and a recessed door of two vertically moulded panels, flanked by pilasters and surmounted by an entablature. A canted bay window to the southwest has a 16-pane sash with a keystone and cornice. A segmental bow window to the northwest has a similar 16-pane sash, cornice, and thin fluted pilasters. A single-storey extension to the northeast has a hipped slate roof, plain parapet, and a matching bow window. A 20th-century extension to the southwest is rendered with a plain tile gambrel roof and a dormer, incorporating small-paned casements, a door, and a rendered stack. Adjacent to this is an early 19th century single-storey brewhouse with a gabled plain tile roof and a ridgeline stack. This section is partially timber-framed and partially red-brick, with a white boarded southern gable containing pigeon holes leading to a loft with wooden nesting boxes, plus a fireplace and old boiler. The rear wall features a 12-pane horizontal-sliding casement and a lean-to with an asbestos roof. A slate-roofed early 19th century extension to the rear has an unequal-pitch roof, with one 6-pane fixed window, one 16-pane sash, and one 12-pane sash and one 20-pane sash on the ground floor. The northeast gable of this extension contains a 16-pane sash over two 2-pane sashes. A pair of early 19th century French windows are located on the rear of the northern single-storey extension. The rear of the front range has two stacks, and the main rear block has one ridgeline stack.

Inside the main house, there are two bays of late hardwood timber framing and a central hall, featuring elliptical front and rear arches with pilasters, the rear arch now partially obscured by a straight staircase with a Chinese Chippendale handrail. The rear service range includes a kitchen with a dresser and a double-sided stack with a cast-iron range, along with a main arched opening with a keystone. The property was formerly associated with a mill house and water mill to the southeast, and has the Chelmer Navigation to the north, with a mill leat to the south. The mill race is enclosed by brick walls, with a brick arch and a cast-iron penstock.