Orchard Works 40 Yards To East Of Number 98

This is a mid-to-late 19th century yellow gault brick malting, located 40 yards to the east of number 98, Station Road. It forms a distinctive outlier within a larger group of similar 19th-century brick maltings situated to the south of Sawbridgeworth Station, on the opposite side of the Stort Navigation in Sheering Parish, Essex.

The building is a tall, imposing block facing north onto the road, distinguished by ornamental gables to the west and east. It has a slate roof and a plan that follows the bend in the road, with a deeper section at the west end. Pilasters define twelve bays from west to the bend, continuing for a further five bays. The pilasters are broad, featuring splayed base offsets and expanded caps. Between the pilasters are panels with four splayed offsets at the base and a corbelled eaves band. Windows are located in alternate bays, illustrating the stages of the malting process along the facade.

The first three bays are topped by a projecting, timber-framed, weatherboarded, slate-roofed lucam, supported by elaborate scrolled brackets. This structure facilitated the hoisting of barley into the building, which was then stored and steeped to initiate germination. The following nine bays contain rows of shallow windows set beneath two ring header arches, corresponding to the low malting floors where germination continued under controlled conditions. Wall anchor plates in the first two bays beyond the corner supported the kiln floors where the grain was heated to produce malt. The final bays were used for bagging and storing the malt prior to dispatch. The kiln roofs and lower malting floors have been removed, but the wide-span timber king post roof trusses remain exposed.

The east and west gables continue the pilastered treatment and include elaborate triangular pediments with dentilled and corbelled courses, as well as heavy, chamfered bargeboards. A wooden nine-pane-by-nine-pane Yorkshire casement window is positioned within the tympanum of the west gable. Industrial steel small-paned windows have been inserted, but are not considered to detract from the building’s overall character. Formerly owned by H A and D Taylor, the building was known as Orchard Malting and represents a notable feature when approaching the town from the east.