Description

STONDON MASSEY

TQ59NE BLACKMORE ROAD 723-1/5/535 (North side) 20/02/76 Soap House (Formerly Listed as: BRENTWOOD BLACKMORE ROAD, Stondon Massey Soap House)

II

House. Early C17, early C20. Timber-framed, roughcast rendered, mock framing moulded in rendering, peg-tiled roof. Rectangular plan with additions at E end. 2 storeys and attic. Rear N side has slight projecting cross-wing at E and stair tower with addition projecting behind principal stack which is off centre to W and is early C20 rebuild of 4, diagonally set, conjoined shafts. Secondary stack, early C20 twin diagonally set shafted, on E end wall of main block. Behind stack, 2-storeyed gabled extension to E, lower than principal block. In front of stack is simple lean-to, C18/19 studding with brick infilling. S front elevation, 3 conjoined gables in 3 bays. W gable projecting. Below the gable, bay window on ground and first floors. Middle bay has an early C20 mid-height lean-to pentice roof, peg-tiled, on timber posts, ground-floor bay window below. All the windows of the front and many of the sides and rear are of one early C20 refurbishment. Front windows, all casements with large lower pane and upper glazing bars creating 4 minor panes. Ground floor W-E, bay window, 4-light and single side lights, doorway, moulded architrave, door 4 panels, upper 2 glazed with leaded lights, each 3x5 panes. Bay window, 4-light and single side lights. Window, 3-light with exterior shutters. First floor, W-E, bay window, 4-light and single side lights, 2 3-light windows with exterior shutters and between them a narrow fixed casement. Rear, N elevation. Principal block gable roofed and partly weatherboarded with stair tower rising to attic in line with stack. To E large gable end of cross-wing with side out-shut towards stair tower. Small rendered stack on N side of lean-to. Also simple lean-to porch, weatherboarded with side entry door. Second door to addition at E end, framed and boarded, upper glazing with glazing bars, 2x3 panes. Windows of early C20 type, casements, irregular. To W of stair tower, ground floor 3-light window with shutters. Above, 2-light window, glazing bars, 2x2 panes. Stair tower, 2 single casements, one on each floor, upper one with shutters. To W side single casement, 2 panes and above, single casement with one pane. Cross wing gable and side out-shut. Ground floor, casements, one 2-light with shutters, one 3-light in porch, one 2-light. Addition to E, one 2-light with shutters on first floor. W gable elevation, ground floor lean-to porch with early C20 French doors, 3 panes per leaf and half depth side lights all combined under arched head. First floor 2 twin C20 fixed lights with shutters. Attic window, 2-light casement with shutters, glazing bars, creating 2 minor upper panes. E end elevation. Ground floor 2-light casement in out-shut. 2 2-light casements in attic gable, glazing bars, 2x2 panes, moulded architrave. INTERIOR construction considerably concealed by early C20 refurbishment and W projecting gable of that time. Cross-wing to E end original and also the stair tower, although it now houses an early C20 stair and has been built out and deepened to N to provide small rooms. Principal joists are revealed in each of the original 3 bays, all having lamb's tongue chamfer stops and at the rear of the centre bay within the out-shut 2 original window openings survive, the upper one on the first floor with ovolo-moulded mullions with internal hollow chamfer moulding. The roof of the main range of butt side purlin and rafter type. E cross-wing roof much rebuilt and some butt side-purlin construction. Also reused sooted rafters with skewed collar trenches (possibly from an earlier open hall house on the site). HISTORICAL NOTE: the main range and cross-wing appear to be of one build, c1600, and the house of the lobby entrance type, the cross-wing being at the low end. The other elements, rebuilt diagonally set chimney shafts, and 2 storey and attic stair tower are in keeping in style and date. A photograph published in 1906 shows the house without the W projecting gable at the high end and other enrichment of the S front. The original principal stack existed of the same form as the present one. The house had a very thorough refacing after 1906. Soap is known to have been made here between 1790-1820 or just previously. (Reeve EHL: A History of Stondon Massey: 1906-).

Listing NGR: TQ5850299762

External Links

• Wikidata Q26584782

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Recommended Books

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments