Walls And Turrets North West, West And South West Of Beckingham Hall

TOLLESHUNT MAJOR CHURCH ROAD TL 91 SW (east side) 3/107 Walls and turrets NW, 30.12.59 W and SW of Beckingham Hall,(formerly listed as Boundary Wall at Beckingham Hall) GV II

Walls and turrets of courtyards, 1543-6. Red and blue bricks in irregular bond. From a point 30 metres NW of Beckingham Hall the wall extends 30 metres to the WSW, then 40 metres to the SSE (this section including a gatehouse, listed separately as item 3/106) and then 37 metres to the WNW to join the SW corner of Beckingham Hall. At the S corner a turret forms one side of a formerly arched gateway (arch missing), and another turret 4 metres to the SSE forms the other side, and the wall continues one metre SSE to meet a C19 agricultural building. Turret at W corner. Height of wall approx. 2.50 metres. Chamfered plinth 0.50 metre wide, main part 0.32 metre wide. Dogtooth course on each side supports projecting courses 0.55 metre wide; inclined bricks form a steep V-coping, the edge finished with tile. Approx. 14 metres ENE of the W turret the wall steps down 5 courses to accommodate to the gradient of the site, with a truncated corbelled pinnacle at this point. Similar feature in the SE length. Diaper pattern in blue flared headers on full length of inside, and outside of SW length only, interrupted by blocked wicket immediately NW of gatehouse. The W angle turret is round and hollow, with a doorway having a 4-centred head to the SE; it rises above the wall with a dogtooth course and projecting courses to a steep pinnacle. The turrets of the S gateway have doorways to the N and NE respectively, with 4-centred heads, dogtooth courses and projecting courses, and tapering crenellated parapets. Built for Stephen Beckingham (P. Morant, The History and Antiquities of Essex, 1768, I, 390) and shown in its relationship to the (then) larger house on estate map of 1637 by Samuel Cosin (Essex Record Office, T/M 4/3).

Listing NGR: TL9092811274