Hillside Hillside Cottage And Attached Railings And Wall To Cromwell Lane

Hillside Cottage and Attached Railings and Wall to Cromwell Lane, Maldon

This complex of buildings comprises a former workhouse, now converted into a house and flats. The main range dates from 1719, was extended and heightened in 1834, and was further altered in 1874. The buildings are timber-framed and rendered with Welsh slate gabled roofs.

The main range runs parallel to the street and comprises three storeys with a cellar beneath, presenting a seven-window frontage. The second floor contains seven 2-light casement windows with label moulding, five of which retain small panes in their upper sections. Two 3-storey canted bay windows with hipped lead roofs are positioned on this elevation; these originally featured similar windows but have been substantially simplified. The first floor has seven comparable windows, two of which have been altered. The ground floor displays a 1719 doorcase with a moulded hood supported on consoles, a 4-pane fanlight to the door with two moulded panels over two flush panels, and two stone steps with iron handrails. Four early 19th-century door surrounds with flat hoods are also present, their doors featuring margin-glazed upper panels. Two wide 4-light casement windows with label mouldings and small panes in their upper sections complete this floor.

An early 19th-century extension to the north-east has full-height pilasters and a gable with a circular window. This section has two 2-light casements with label mouldings on each of the ground, first, and second floors, with two plain 2-light casements serving the exposed basement level. The recessed elevation facing north features a 2-light casement with label moulding on each floor, positioned above a flat-headed carriage arch giving access to the rear yard.

A parallel range to the rear (formerly the Masters House) rises to three storeys with cellars beneath and presents its principal elevation facing north-west. The second and third floors each contain three 16-pane sash windows with moulded surrounds. The ground floor has a central early 19th-century doorcase with a hood on consoles, moulded architrave, and a 4-panel door, approached by a flight of 19th-century stone steps with contemporary handrails. This floor also contains one 16-pane sash window and a segmental bow window with small-paned tripartite sash and flat roof. The exposed basement level features a pair of small-paned French windows and doors with small-paned side lights beneath the bow window.

The rear of the complex is lit by 2-light casements without label mouldings. A projecting early 19th-century toilet extension is present, alongside three tall, substantial red brick stacks.

Hillside Cottage itself is a former workhouse reception, utility, and laundry room of two storeys with a slate roof, gabled to the north-west and hipped to the east. It is constructed in red Flemish-bond brick, now substantially rendered, with 20th-century small-paned sash windows.

Internally, the main range retains a 2-storey hardwood timber-frame of 1717 with chamfered spine beams and substantial hanging knees under tie beams. In 1834, a further storey of good-quality softwood timber-framing was added, incorporating cambered tie beams. Wide staircases of the 1834 improvements and heavy doors of two layers of thick rebated boarding on large iron hinges survive. The former Masters House retains a substantially unaltered plan form, though now subdivided, preserving many early 19th-century features.

The subsidiary features include stone-slab paving in the front forecourt and late 19th-century cast-iron railings. A red-brick boundary wall extends to Cromwell Lane, partly serving as a retaining wall and linking the main range with the cottage, projecting beyond.

The complex was originally purpose-built as a workhouse in 1719, financed from the residue of the estate of Thomas Plume. In 1834 it was extended, heightened, and improved to function as the Union workhouse. Following the opening of St Peter's Workhouse in 1874, the complex was subdivided vertically to create residential units.