Fen Farmhouse

Fen Farmhouse is a house that dates from the 15th and 16th centuries for the central range, with a right range from the 17th century or earlier, and left and rear ranges from the 18th or 19th centuries. The building is timber framed and plastered, topped with red plain tiled roofs, featuring some diamond patterning on the right range. The left side has a half hip with a chimney stack positioned to the right of a one-storey and attic range. The central two-storey range is accompanied by a rear range, while the right side has a one-storey and attic range with an external chimney stack and a single-storey lean-to that has a pantile roof. There are gabled dormers on both the right and left ranges, and the window arrangement is 1:2:1, with 19th-century two-light casements in the dormers and vertically sliding sashes with margins in the left and central ranges. The right range features a 20th-century three-light small-paned casement. A gabled painted brick porch is located on the left range, with a vertically boarded door and a surround that includes brackets supporting a slanting canopy. Inside, the right range has a 17th-century inserted ceiling, while the central range displays arched braces to the tie beams, jowls on the ground and first-floor posts, heavy flat section ceiling beams, and a heavy side purlin roof. There are 18th-century vertically boarded doors, a back-to-back fireplace, and an original dairy/kitchen that includes meat hooks on the ceiling beams, along with a loft door in the kitchen ceiling. The farmhouse was sometimes referred to as School Farm and was farmed in 1796 by Philips Bromley of Moze Hall, although it was owned by Earls Colne Grammar School, as noted by F.H. Erith in "Ardleigh in 1796," published in 1978.