Church Lane Theydon Theydon Or Church Lane

Estate house with late medieval origins, remodelled in the early 17th century and extended later, possibly in the 18th or early 19th century, possibly when the house was divided into two cottages. The building is constructed of creamwashed rendered cob and stone rubble with a thatched roof, plain ridge, hipped at the left end of the main block and gabled at the right end. There is a right end stack with stone rubble shaft, a stack at the junction of the main block and the south-west wing, and a stack to the 18th or 19th century addition.

The plan form is complex and of considerable historic interest, approximately Z-shaped overall. The main block faces north-east with a south-west wing at right angles and a probable 18th or 19th century addition adjoining the wing on the same axis as the main block. The main block, two rooms wide, represents the higher end of a late medieval open hall house with unusually primitive carpentry to the roof construction. The lower end and passage (formerly adjoining at the north-west) are missing, but the medieval doorframe from the passage into the higher end survives in situ as an external doorframe. The hall was probably floored in the 17th century with a stack added backing on to the passage (now the end stack) and a winder stair added in the inner room. The south-west wing may also be medieval in origin, possibly originally unheated, though odd features associated with the present stack but apparently pre-dating it suggest it may have had a smoke hood or timber frame stack before the insertion of the existing stack, which features an 18th century chimney-piece. A small one-room plan extension leads off the wing at right angles. The main block has a tiled outshut along the front north-east wall and a thatched outshut along the south-east side of the wing, providing access between wing and main block. The principal entrance is into the south-west end of the wing from the lane to the church. The house was divided into two cottages at one time.

Exterior: The building is irregular and picturesque, sited adjacent to the churchyard. It is of two storeys. The asymmetrical two-window entrance front faces the lane to the church and comprises the end of the south-west wing and the side of the 18th or 19th century addition. There is a 19th or 20th century plank front door to the left with a thatched porch with timber lattice sides. The first floor window left is probably an 18th century three-light casement retaining some square leaded panes and old glass. Eaves thatch is eyebrowed over the first floor window right, which is a 20th century casement with glazing bars. The left return has one one-light window and a three-light 18th century ground floor casement with some square leaded panes, old glass and stanchions. To the left and set back, the rear elevation of the main block has an early 19th century gabled dormer with pierced curly bargeboards and a timber casement with glazing bars; one similar ground floor casement is present. The left return of the main block has a thatched porch to the former higher end entrance from the missing passage, retaining its original medieval chamfered oak doorframe with a cranked lintel pegged into the jambs. Deep eaves to the gable end with early 19th century pierced curly bargeboards. A single-storey outshut with a red pantile roof extends along the north-east elevation (the front of the main block). The thatch on the south-east side of the wing is swept down, almost to ground level, as a catslide over the outshut.

Interior: The main block contains chamfered step-stopped crossbeams and exposed joists. The heated room features an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel and bread oven. There may originally have been a stair in the north-west corner of the room where there is a large cupboard with an early 18th century door with one large welded panel. The unheated room has a timber winder stair; the division between the two rooms rises as a closed partition on the first floor, made up of slender poles with plaster between. In the wing, various timbers adjacent to the stack appear truncated by the chimney-breast and, on the first floor, a sooted void next to the stack may be the remains of a framed smoke hood. The ground floor room has a chamfered stopped crossbeam, a substantial axial beam across half the room and some exposed joists. A 20th century oak stair rises in the corner, replacing a 19th century stair. The 18th century chimney-piece is of unexpectedly high quality, in Adam style.

Roof: The main north-east facing block has a late medieval jointed cruck roof construction, the right hand (north) cruck embedded in the end wall. The trusses are of very rustic character, the principal rafters slender and wainey with most of the curve in the principals rather than the cruck feet, which appear to be halved on to the rafters. The collars, also slender, appear to have halved rather than mortised joints. The hip at the left end is partly renewed but the rafters are simply fixed on to timber pads in the end wall. The roof has been altered to the rear of the ridge and some of the purlins (formerly trenched) have been removed. There is no access to the apex of the roof but fragments of sooted thatch are visible behind the lath and plaster. The roof over the wing has been raised slightly; the timbers are probably 18th or early 19th century, with the ridge resting on a massive sooted timber block on the gable. Substantial sooted timbers are visible in a void adjacent to the stack of the wing.

This is an exceptionally interesting evolved house on a small scale, in a crucial position in the centre of an outstanding estate village and one of eight closely-spaced medieval houses in the village.