Description

BRENTWOOD

TQ69NW HALL LANE, Shenfield
723-1/6/312 (West side)
21/10/58 Shenfield Hall

GV II

House. Medieval origin, much altered in C16, extended in C18
and C19. Timber-framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red
clay tiles. Complex plan originally comprising 3-bay hall,
service bay to left, parlour/solar bay to right, facing S.
External stack added to rear of hall, hall/parlour partition
rebuilt to left, and service bay converted to a cross-wing,
late C16. 2-storey porch to front, late C16. Originally
separate single-storey brewhouse/kitchen with wide rear hearth
to rear of hall, later connected and raised to 2 storeys. C19
cross-wing to left, extending forwards, with external stack to
left, and wider range to rear, with rear stack. C18 and C19
single-storey minor extensions to rear right. 2 storeys. C20
door and flanking windows, one C19 splayed bay to left, C20
windows in left cross-wing. Most other windows are C19
casements. At rear right, on the ground floor, are 2 C18
oeil-de-boeuf windows with moulded plaster architraves and 4
radial keystones. The 2-storey porch is jettied to front and
both sides, with plaster coving below the jetties, internal
doorway blocked.
INTERIOR: internally all the timber structure is plastered
below roof level except one transverse and one axial chamfered
beam, both with lamb's tongue stops, of the late C16 inserted
floor of the hall. A chamfered axial beam in the right bay is
faced with plaster. C19 folding 3-part shutter to ground-floor
window at rear right. The ground-floor hearth of the stack to
rear of the hall has been re-bricked in the C20. Two C19
cast-iron grates on first floor, one with scrolls in high
relief. The collar-purlin, rafters and collars of a crownpost
roof survive, heavily smoke-blackened above the former hall;
only the collar-purlin survives above the former service end,
lightly smoke-blackened. Some smoke-blackened medieval tile
laths survive in situ above the former open truss of the hall,
a rare feature meriting special care. The C18 rebuilt roof
above the former service end has in one side a purlin of 0.10
x 0.10m pine a splayed and tabled scarf with undersquinted
butts, side key and iron spikes (illustrated in Wood, 1781).
(Wood J: A Series of Plans for Cottages or Habitations of the
Labourer: 1781-: 15-16; Morant J: The History and Antiquities
of the County of Essex: 1768-: 193-4; Essex Historic Buildings
Group: Padfield A: January 1985; RCHM: Shenfield : 4).

Listing NGR: TQ6050495264

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Shenfield Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q23305158

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)