Rainham Hall

Rainham Hall was built in 1729 for John Harle, a merchant and owner of Rainham Wharf. It is a three-storey building with a basement, constructed of brown-red brick with red rubbed brick dressings. The building features a plinth with a stone cornice, rusticated stone angle quoins, brick bands between each storey, an elaborate carved wood cornice, and a panelled parapet. There are five cambered-headed sash windows on the front, each with cased frames and glazing bars. Each window has a double keystone and a projecting panelled apron. The central bay of the front projects slightly for the full height of the building. A central entrance is defined by a handsome carved wood porch with fluted Corinthian pilasters supporting individual entablatures topped with an open segmental pediment, richly coffered on the underside. The doorway has an architrave surround with a baroque scrolled feature in the centre. The door itself has 12 glazed panels with thick glazing bars and two fielded panels at the bottom, reached by a flight of four stone steps with moulded nosings. The rear and churchyard elevations are similar in design, but with recessed aprons to the windows and, on the rear, a central closed porch with fluted pilasters, a triglyph frieze, and cornice. A symmetrical, round-headed staircase window is centrally positioned on the first floor of the rear elevation, with a dropped cill. The south front is also similar. The roof is flat topped and covered in old tiles, with rectangular stacks. The interior remains largely unaltered and retains many fine contemporary fittings, including fully panelled principal rooms, a black and white marble floor in the entrance hall, a staircase with a cut string and twisted balusters, and several good fireplaces.