Maltings, Numbers 3 And 4 Adjacent To School Road

Maltings, Numbers 3 and 4 adjacent to School Road, are double range maltings built around 1896 to 1900 for Free, Rodwell and Co. Ltd., with iron work by J.R.M. Fitch from Lawford Ironworks in Manningtree. The building is constructed of red brick with yellow brick dressings and features gabled returns and grey slate roofs. It stands five storeys tall, with the north face consisting of two large blocks, each having two gables and a central carriageway that is four storeys high, resulting in a total of five gables. Each gable has two bays separated by pilasters that extend to the gable apices, with a plinth and richly moulded and dentilled bands at each storey that continue through the pilasters. Each gable also features two oculi. The building has three-light ventilator windows in each bay and storey, each with a brick segmental head and moulded keystone. Most windows still have their central louvre and narrow side vents, although three on the fourth storey are partly blocked. There are ventilators beneath each window on the second, third, and fourth storeys. The fourth storey of the carriageway has corbels that support arched braces with roundels and tracery on the lintel.

The west face, which is adjacent to School Road, has 15 bays with similar decoration to the north face, but the three southern bays lack the decorative bands. Bays 10, 11, and 12 project forward and feature scrolls on their return copings. To the east, these bays form a gabled crosswing that is one storey taller than the main building. Each of the first nine bays has moulded circular tie plates on the three lower storeys of their pilasters. The second bay includes vertically boarded doors with segmental heads that match the windows on each storey. Inside, there are red quarry tile malting floors, a rubble separator, various hoists, chutes, and conveyors, four steeping tanks, a power shovel, and a barley store. The interior also features cast iron columns with moulded capitals in each bay and floor, along with a cast iron linking bridge across the carriageway.