Sawyer'S Farmhouse

Sawyer's Farmhouse is a house dating from the 18th century and early 19th century, with extensions made in the 20th century. It features a timber-framed and plastered structure, along with painted brick in Flemish bond, and is roofed with handmade red clay tiles. The original 18th-century part of the house consists of three bays facing approximately north, with a central stack, while the brick section, built around 1840, also faces north and includes a central stack that forms a lobby entrance and an original porch. There is a two-storey extension at the rear of the brick house.

The northern elevation of the first build has two 20th-century sash windows and one 20th-century casement window, along with two 20th-century sashes in lean-to dormers beneath a gambrel roof. The second build features two original sashes with 16 lights on the ground floor and two similar sashes plus one original sash with 12 lights on the first floor. The front of the brick porch has a six-panel door with a flat roof. Both the main roof and the roof of the rear extension are hipped. At the back of the first build, there are two early 19th-century sashes with five and ten lights.

Inside the first build, the interior showcases exposed framing, primary straight bracing, unjowled posts, and an unchamfered axial beam with plain joists in the left bay, while the right bay has a 20th-century floor. There is a wood-burning hearth with a brick arch supported by an iron bar in the left bay, and the other hearth has been rebuilt in the 20th century. The second build retains most of its original internal features, including folding internal shutters and a reeded fire surround with concentric rings at the corners in the left ground floor room. On the first floor, there are two small original cast iron grates. All internal doors are original, including two that are half-glazed with slender glazing bars. Deeds from 1753 are held at the Essex Record Office, and Sawyer's Farm is first mentioned by name in 1811.