The Compasses

GREAT OAKLEY CLACTON ROAD TM 12 NE (north-east side) 3/24 The Compasses

• II

House. C15, altered in C19 and C20. Timber framed, roughcast rendered, roofed with interlocking concrete tiles. 3 bays facing W, with an external stack at each end. C20 flat-roofed extension to rear of right end. One storey with attics. 2 C19 casements, and 3 C19/early C20 casements in gabled dormers. C20 door. The interior of the ground floor is largely concealed by modern finishes, but 2 chamfered arched braces to the central tiebeam of the former hall, and the chamfered transverse beam of an inserted floor, c.1600, are apparent through paper. The framing is exposed in the upper right room (the right bay of the former hall), with jowled posts, heavy studding, cambered tiebeam, and crownpost roof. The central crownpost has wide 4-way bracing, and the roof is complete, and smoke-blackened. This building has been converted in the C19 to a pair of cottages, each with its external stack and separate stair; this arrangement remains, although now one house again, and is responsible for the fact that the central tiebeam of the former hall is intact. Shown with a farm of 32 acres, named Compasses, owned and occupied by Samuel Dennis, in the tithe award of 1841 (Essex Record Office, D/CT 258).

Listing NGR: TM1666426435