Bourchier'S Hall

TOLLESBURY BACK ROAD TL 92 SW (south side) 3/1 Bourchier's Hall 10.1.53 GV II*

House, Early C14, altered in C16 and later. Timber framed, mainly plastered, exposed framing on N elevation, red brick cladding in Flemish bond on part of ground floor, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. 3-bay aisled hall range aligned N-S, W aisle present, E aisle removed, with internal stack at S end. 4-bay crosswing to N, with internal stack at the junction, and stack at E end, enclosed by C17 one-bay extension beyond. External stack to N, the flue carried up tile roof pitch to join the other stack. Late C16 stair tower in SE angle, on site of former E aisle, and higher C18 extension to E of it, with external stack to S. C19 dairy of red brick in Flemish bond to NW of crosswing. 2 storeys. W elevation, 3 pairs of C20 sashes on ground floor, 3 C20 sashes on first floor of which 2 are in gabled dormers, and one in attic gable. A recess in the plaster, with rounded head, suggests a former doorway one bay from the S end (although no internal evidence is exposed). Elsewhere, scattered fenestration. Plain boarded door in E end of dairy, now the front entrance. The interior of the ground floor is mainly plastered. Jowled posts. The central truss of the hall is exposed, with steeply cambered tiebeam with quadrant mouldings mitred at the ends to return along attached covings, missing. Deep moulded arch braces to it, with moulded spandrels. Spandrel struts. Octagonal crownpost with moulded cap and base, and 4-way rising braces of straight, square section. Carved boss below centre of tiebeam, mutilated and partly concealed in plaster. Arched braces of square section to arcade plate. At truss to N, reversed assembly in mainspan. Rafter holes in the S sides of the rafters confirm the evidence of the blocked doorway, that the 'high end' of the hall was to the N. (J. McCann, The Purpose of Rafter Holes, Vernacular Architecture 9, 1978, 26). The N crosswing may be original. One post exposed on the stair, on the site of the former E aisle, has a matrix apparently of a notched lap joint, although now filled with cement and partly obscured. The roof of the crosswing has been raised approx. 1.30 metres and rebuilt in butt-purlin form. The stair tower retains one original window with ovolo-moulded jamb, lintel and 2 mullions, blocked by the C18 extension to the E. This house was probably built by Robert Bourchier, Lord Chancellor of England, who acquired the manor by marriage, held his first court in 1329, and died in 1349. (P. Morant, The History and Antiquities of Essex, 1768, I, 401). Moated site. RCHM 3.

Listing NGR: TL9443011658