Description

DODDINGHURST

TQ59NE DODDINGHURST ROAD
723-1/5/321 (West side)
20/02/76 Sumners Farmhouse
(Formerly Listed as:
BRENTWOOD
DODDINGHURST ROAD, Doddinghurst
Sumner's Farmhouse)

II

House. C16, c1600, early C17, later C17, c1700 and C20.
Timber-framed, rendered and brick infilled, peg-tiled roof.
Rectangular plan with rear stair tower, C17/C18 extension at N
end. C20 lean-to at S end. House in 2 units, S end highest, 2
storeys, 2 window range, C20 wooden casements, colour washed
wall. C17 stack, 3 shafts 'concertina' form edge on. N end,
exposed timber-frame and brick infil, 2 storeys, 3 window
range, C20 casements, central door and porch in timber and
brick with simple hood, peg tiles, upper part glazed. Door
framed and boarded with glazed panel and side glazing. Double
stack in line with door. 4 dormers, C20 casements, peg-tiled.
N end wall weatherboarded.
INTERIOR - complex, several timber-framed phases. Phase (1)
earlier C16, medieval hall house with 2 bayed high end
cross-wing with front jetty and 2-storeyed service bay.
Framing with internal arched bracing and tension bracing in
cross-wing. Evidence for 2 oriel windows to the hall and
probably under the jetty. Crown post roof, central hall post
square with step stopped chamfers, 4 way bracing, no sooting,
possible timber-framed chimney originally backing on to cross
passage. Service end had appropriate mullioned windows with
sliding shutters on ground and first floor. Floor joists with
soffit tenons. Cross-wing although now cut back very evident
from edge halved and bridled scarfs in both top plates. Floor
joists with diminished haunched soffit tenons, suggesting a
second phase (1B) but othe evidence suggests hall and
cross-wing of one build. Phase (2) c1600. Chimney inserted
into upper bay of hall facing low end and doorways inserted
next to cross-wing to make a second cross passage at high end
behind the stack. Floor inserted into hall, deep sectioned
joists with diminished haunched tenons and pendant soffits.
Lamb's tongue chamfer stops. Phase (3) early C17. 2-bayed
taller block added to high end with integral stack and
fireplaces on ground and first floors. Roof clasped side
purlin. Ground floor rear wall has window with mullion (ovolo
with minor hollow mouldings) and intermediate minor iron
mullions and shutter rebates. Phase (4) later C17. Jetty
removed and roof re-aligned to principal range, using joggled
butt purlins. Lobby entrance door cut through in front of
stack and ground floor partition between hall and cross-wing
removed, creating one big room. Phase (5) later C17 and C18.
Linking stair tower between 2 principal blocks and a narrower
chimney added to side of hall stack heating parlour end, also
a single storey timber-framed extension to rear of the service
end of rudimentary construction. Several sets of carpenters'
marks exist on the studding of the house. Rear of house,
rendered and colourwashed, irregular C20 casement windows.
Early block to N one dormer and one gable with one window in
each with glazing bars. Between blocks is stair tower with
gabled roof and adjacent, second gabled block with one C20
casement window. C20 lean-to outshut to end of block with a
casement window. The house demonstrates a conuinuous series of
alterations through its history that are still discernable as
the occupants constantly brought the house up to date. The
adjacent house, Abreys, is also an old timber-framed farmhouse
but recent alterations have now removed it from a listing
category. A collapsed barn to the E of the house contained a
C13 scarf joint noted by CA Hewett (misprinted as Summers
Farm).
(Padfield A: Historic buildings in Essex : Issue 2: 1985-:
9-18; Hewett CA: English Historic Carpentry: Chichester:
1980-: 264).

Listing NGR: TQ5968196965

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26491749

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

• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy