Description

INGATESTONE AND FRYERNING
TQ69NW TRUELOVES LANE, Ingatestone
723-1/6/418 (South West side)
Kettle's

GV II

Wrongly shown on OS map as Kettle's Place.
House. Mid-C16, altered and extended in early C19 to form 2
cottages, now combined; extended and renovated in C20.
Timber-framed, plastered and weatherboarded, roofed with
handmade red clay tiles. 2 bays facing NE with late C16 axial
internal stack at right end, early C19 external stack at left
end. Early C19 extension at each end, aligning with rear wall,
with narrower span and lower roof than original. C19/20
lean-to to rear of right extension with internal stack, C20
single-storey wing to rear of left extension.
2 storeys. All windows are C20 casements. Two C20 plain
boarded doors in C20 porch at front, to left of centre, with
hipped roof of handmade red clay tiles. The original left
tie-beam projects at the front left corner, plastered, and a
sloping board across the front elevation defines the original
eaves height, before the roof was raised in the early C19. C20
plain boarded door and C20 lean-to porch at left side, roofed
with machine-made red clay tiles. Weatherboarded dado at front
and both ends and round right lean-to. Original left wall
weatherboarded where it projects in front of and above left
extension. Some exposed false framing on left gable of left
extension, and on rear left extension, which is roofed with
machine-made red clay tiles. Rear wall of original building
weatherboarded. All the remainder plastered and roofed with
handmade tiles.
INTERIOR: jowled posts, with arched braces from corner posts
to wallplates inside heavy studding, not trenched. Arched
braces to central tie-beam. As originally built this comprised
a storeyed left bay and a hall bay to the right, open from
ground to roof, with some form of chimney at the right end,
probably timber-framed. Before 1601 the present brick stack
was inserted at the right end; then or in the C17 a floor was
inserted in this bay. The original floor in the left bay is of
plain joists of horizontal section arranged longitudinally,
with some replacements and a later supporting beam below; some
early hardwood boards. The floor in the right bay has a
chamfered axial beam with lamb's tongue stops, plain joists of
vertical section, and original rebated hardwood boards, almost
complete. Original plain doorway in rear wall of right bay,
blocked by later stair. Original studding between the bays,
sill altered in C20. End tie-beams severed for doorways to C19
extensions. Central tie-beam notched for an inserted doorway

above it, later blocked. The roof of the original cottage has

been raised approximately one metre, leaving the 3 transverse

frames in situ to their apices. The stack at the right end

retains its original clay mortar; width of hearth reduced. The
insertion of a stair in the left bay, for the C19 conversion

to 2 cottages, and its later removal, has caused some
disturbance of the joists, and the insertion of a transverse

beam supporting the joists is related to this alteration. The

early C19 roof has wallplates bridled to straight tie-beams.
HISTORICAL NOTE: this cottage is described in a survey of 1556

as `a tenement called Kettles', 25 feet long, 18 feet wide, 8

feet high to the eaves (corresponding with the present
dimensions of the main building) with a thatched roof, with a

holding of 7 acres, tenant John Pepper. It is mentioned in

court rolls in 1556, 1560, 1573, 1575, 1576 (twice), 1579,

1586, and 1601. It is illustrated in the Walker map of 1601 as

a simple building with a door and brick chimney near the right

end, 3 windows and a thatched roof; the plot shown on the

Walker map corresponds exactly with the present site.
Immediately to the NW Trueloves Lane was diverted in the C19

from its original line towards Trueloves, to follow a curved

field boundary SW of it, now forming the N boundary of

Kettle's (Essex Record Office). Small 2-bay houses of this
early origin are rare, and this has survived in remarkably
intact form. It is unique in being fully documented, described
and illustrated in the period 1556-1601.
(Essex Record Office: D/DP M.170 M96-101).

Listing NGR: TQ6367298848

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26502944

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)