Description

MUNDON NEW HALL LANE
TL 80 SE
(north side)
2/64 White House Farmhouse
­ 11*

House. Circa 1570, altered in early C17, restored in early C20. Timber framed,
plastered with exposed framing, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. 5 bays
facing SE, with external stack at right end and early C17 3-bay extension
beyond. Early C17 external stack at left end. Main block of 2 storeys with
attics, extension of 2 storeys. Main block, ground floor, 2 transomed 6-light
oriels, each with a 4-light window to each side, with moulded jambs and
mullions, wrought iron casements and diamond leading; these windows have been
accurately restored in the early C20. First floor, 2 similar windows, but not
transomed, and two 2-light casements in similar style. Attic, one C17 3-light
window with one wrought iron casement and diamond leading in gabled dormer.
Full-length jetty. Right extension, 4-window range of C20 casements in C16
style. C20 door in C17 porch of red brick in Flemish bond, with segmental arch,
crow-stepped gable and round-headed niche, and one C20 door. Roof hipped at
right end. Concertina shaft with moulded base. The interior has jowled posts,
curved bracing trenched inside close studding, edge-halved and bridled scarfs in
the wallplates. The left ground floor room of the main block has richly moulded
and carved transverse and longitudinal beams, spiral leaf with foliate scroll
stops, with moulded covings all round, joists plastered to the soffits, an
original doorway with 4-centred head, and a wood-burning hearth with depressed
arch of plastered brick with foliate spandrels. The right ground floor room has
richly moulded and carved axial beams, of vine pattern, moulded joists of
horizontal section with converging stops, and reset early C17 oak panelling. The
first-floor rooms have moulded and carved transverse beams, in spiral leaf
design, and moulded joists of horizontal section with foliate scroll stops. The
right room has an original hearth with moulded mantel beam and moulded brick
jambs. The roof is of crownpost construction, with one thin axial brace at the
left end, and 4 octagonal crownposts with lamb's tongue stops and neither
bracing, nor mortices for bracing - a rare or possibly unique construction. The
stair to the attic is of solid treads. The right extension is of plainer
construction, with plain joists of horizontal section in the right bay, diamond
mortices for formerly unglazed windows, and jowled posts with arched braces. The
whole roof of this wing, and the right part of the main roof, has been rebuilt
in the C20. A canal approx. 2 km. long connects with the Blackwater estuary,
terminating in a basin immediately behind the house, indicating that this was
formerly the house of a merchant engaged in import-export or coastal trade. It
is shown as White House on Chapman and André's map of 1777. It was described as
partly plastered and partly weatherboarded, and in poor condition, by the RCHM
(5), in the 1920s.

Listing NGR: TL8767503683

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532124

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

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  For the Record