Description

TOLLESHUNT D'ARCY CHURCH STREET TL 9211-9311 (east side) 7/55 Tolleshunt D'Arcy Hall 10.1.53 (Formerly listed as The Hall, Tolleshunt D'Arcy with Dove- GV II* cote and Bridge)

House. Early C16 and late C17. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. 5 bays facing approx. S, with external stack at rear. C18/C19 single-storey extension to right. A late C17 wing of 3 bays extends forward from the left end of the main block, now forming the entrance/reception block, forming an L-plan, with one axial stack at the junction and one at the end. 2 storeys. E elevation of S wing, ground floor, 3 C18 sashes of 12 lights and one C20 French window; first floor 3 similar sashes. Central 6-panel door in simple doorcase with dentilled open pediment on scrolled brackets. The W elevation (towards Church Street) has a 3-window range of similar sashes and a similar central door and doorcase. The S elevation of the main block has an original door of moulded overlapping planks, heavily nail-studded, with moulded jambs, and moulded lintel carved with flowers in quatrefoils, and 3 plain lights above. The roof has gablet hips at both ends. The interior of the main range retains the original screens passage, one bay from the right end, the rear door blocked, with part of a doorhead of 4-centred curvature. The wall to the right has 2 original service doorways with moulded jambs and 4-centred heads, the spandrels carved with pomegranates and foliage; the post between the doorways is carved with spiral leaf ornament; above the doorheads is a moulded, carved and crenellated cornice. The soutnern doorway retains the original door of fluted planks with 8 curvilinear recesses. On the left side of the screens passage is a re-sited original door with linenfold panelling. Early C17 panelling elsewhere. Jowled posts, close studding, partly exposed internally and wattle and daub infill. A blocked first-floor doorway at the right end, with plain head, implies the former existence of an east wing. Edge-halved and bridled scarfs in the wallplates, which are partly hollow-chamfered, partly rebated for former panelling. The crown post roof is complete, with cranked tiebeams hollow-chamfered below, plain-chamfered above. Cross-quadrate crownposts with plain stops and 4-way arched braces. Rafter holes in all the full-length rafters, on the E side only (towards the service end). Soulaces to every rafter couple. Most of the roof components retain original yellow paint (some of it original yellow paint (some of it whitewashed over), a rare feature which deserves special care. The absence of smoke-blackening indicates that this block was floored throughout from the outset, heated by an external chimney, although it is not certain that the present stack is original. The S wing has jowled posts, chamfered transverse beams and a clasped purlin roof. The middle ground-floor room is lined with re-sited panelling, including early C16 linenfold, with a range of carved panels at the top and near the middle; the upper carved panels have conventional foliage and various heads and figures, including a mermaid, eagle and child, and grotesques, and the initials A.D. (for Anthony Darcy). The lower carved panels have conventional foliage and cartouches with the Darcy arms differenced by a crescent, and the initials A.D.; the panelling is finished with a crenellated cornice. There are 2 wallposts in the form of Ionic pilasters, having carved foliage. The ceiling has re-used moulded and traceried beams with moulded ribs forming traceried designs. It appears that all or most of these features are original to the house, removed from the main block. RCHM 2, which includes illustrations. John Darcy acquired the manor by marriage at some date before 1471. His son Anthony served as Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1511, and as a J.P., and died in 1540. The main range of the house appears to have been constructed by him, and the panelling with his initials to be original. Moated site.

Listing NGR: TL9283711614

External Links

• Wikidata Q17532026

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