The Old Swan House

House dating from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Timber-framed construction with rendered finish, topped by a gabled roof of clay plain tiles with the lower section covered in Welsh slate.

Exterior

The building presents two storeys and attics with a single large flat-roofed dormer positioned centrally on the front elevation. The first floor contains three double-hung sash windows with small panes—two square and one narrower. The ground floor features one similar square sash window with small panes, a 20th-century hardwood front door, and two 19th-century double-hung sash windows. To the north-west is a small double-hung sash window with small panes and a yard entrance fitted with a 20th-century wrought-iron gate.

Between the two storeys, extending across the middle of the façade, is an exposed convex carved jetty bressumer adorned with a running trail of foliage and a central cartouche bearing the initials 'W' and 'K' over 'F'. The building features an off-centre ridgeline stack and black-painted plinth. A two-storey rear extension with a separate gabled plain tile roof projects from the main structure.

Interior

The interior plan comprises three-bay cross-wings positioned at the north-west and south-east extremities of the site. The north-west wing dates probably to the mid-16th century and shows evidence of former service doors and a staircase door in its rearmost bay, with arched heads surviving until recently. The bridging joists display stopped chamfers and blocked mortices indicating a former lateral partition. This wing was originally jettied to the street.

The south-east cross-wing, probably dating to the late 15th century, retains on its flank a former blocked parlour door opening. The plaster surface displays late 15th-century wall painting depicting a seated male figure holding a horn and taper, accompanied by the inscription 'Sor I ssegn ande mak my mon, the sschryn ys here the bodys goon'. To the left is a curious oval feature with black bands, which has been alternatively interpreted as either a gaming board or a cannon. The joists of this wing are stopped-chamfered.

Between the cross-wings stands a two-storey timber frame of the early 17th century with a contemporary stack. This central section originally contained one large chamber on each floor and a stack bay to the south-east, with principal timbers featuring quadrant moulding. A pair of spine beams, one now a replica, are moulded with bold ogee profiles. The ground-floor rear wall displays an acanthus scroll corbel and a frieze window with moulded mullions, part of a typical tripartite grouping. The first-floor chamber retains its contemporary plaster ceiling decorated with rose and fleur-de-lys motifs on the beam soffit. A similar ceiling appears in the ground floor of the south-east cross-wing.

The early 17th-century stack features a plastered arched fireplace on the first floor with sunk spandrels and chamfered jambs. At ground level, the stack contains a tunnel with pointed vault forming an entrance passage. The rear extension, of good quality mid-17th-century framing, features a side purlin roof with cambered collars. Between the front and rear ranges stands a gallery-like structure fitted with an 18th-century balustrade of turned balusters. A 17th-century side purlin roof now spans the full width of the frontage, covering both cross-wings.

Historical Note

The cross-wing arrangement suggests an earlier open hall building, either set back from the street or with an aisle on the frontage. The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments documented this building in their Essex North-East volume.