Description

TL 6730 GREAT BARDFIELD HIGH STREET
(north-west side)

8/178 Rear wing of Bank House,
21.12.67 (formerly listed with
Bank House )

GV II*

Public building, probably a guildhall, now divided into a first floor flat, a
ground floor store, and the kitchen of Bank House. Late C15, altered in C19 and
C20. Timber framed, plastered and partly bricked, roofed with handmade red clay
tiles. 6 bays facing SW (at right angles to High Street), behind Bank House.
No stacks. On the ground floor the 2 bays at the right end have become the rear
kitchen of Bank House, a much later building. The left bay has become the
entrance and stair to the flat which comprises the whole first floor. The
remaining 4 bays comprise a store and entrance. The SW long side was originally
jettied throughout, but is now underbuilt with modern red brick for slightly
more than one bay at the left end. The next part-bay and bay have been bricked
on the line of the original wall, and the left return wall and the whole rear
wall are bricked. 2 storeys. 4 C20 casements on ground floor, 5 on first
floor. One C20 door. Blocked original door at right end, with 4-centred door-
head. Exposed beams and joists in 5 of the 6 bays. 3 plain brackets, the
others missing. 2 attached shafts of half-octagonal section with moulded and
crenellated capitals. The ground floor was originally divided into spaces of 2,
1 and 3 bays respectively, one studded wall now removed. In the 2 right bays
the transverse and axial beams are moulded to a double-ogee profile with
converging stops. In the 3 left bays the transverse and axial beams are
chamfered with step-stops. The remaining bay is only 2.20 metres long, has no
axial beam, and probably contained the original entrance stair. The transverse
beam forming its right side is moulded to the right, chamfered and stopped to
the left. The upper storey is divided into 2 rooms of 3 bays each by an
original studded partition. There are edge-halved and bridled scarfs in the
walls, and the roof is of crownpost construction with axial braces. This
building appears to be the guildhall confiscated by the Crown in 1547, 'the
messuage called le Yeldehall in Great Bardfelde, Essex' sold by the Court of
Augmentations to William Berners in 1549 (Calendar of Letters Patent, Edward VI,
11, 366), and endowed as a school 'for the teaching of grammar in the guildhall
there' by the will of Serjeant William Bendlowes, 1584. (See Place House,
8/129, and the parish church, 8/115). The guildhall was mentioned again in an
inquisition of 1611 (Chancery, Inquisitions for Charitable Uses, 4/9). The site
of a Guildhall is recorded approx. 25 metres to the SE in OS maps of 1876, 1896
and 1921. There may be some confusion with a 'Town House' described in
churchwarden's minutes in 1795 as being in derelict condition, and in 1796 as
'lately removed', but this was probably a post-medieval market building
comparable with that still present at Steeple Bumpstead. RCHM 30.

Listing NGR: TL6753030562

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17557344

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)