Description

BRENTWOOD

TQ5793 WIGLEY BUSH LANE, South Weald
723-1/16/303 (East side)
21/10/58 Wealdcote
(Formerly Listed as:
VICARAGE LANE, South Weald
(East side)
Wealdcote)

GV II

Formerly known as: Wealdcote South Weald Village.
House. Early C16, early C17, early C18, C20. Timber-framed,
plastered and rendered, brick, peg-tiled roofs. Plan has early
C16 long principal range with 2 rear projecting C17 and C18
wings.
EXTERIOR: 2 storey and attic. W front elevation has continuous
early C16 jetty supported at S end by C18 gable end wall. 4
principal joists project, 2 reduced and 2 complete with
brackets and simple facia board with bead. 3 window range, all
windows have casements with glazing bars, 2x2 panes, a number
of panes of old crown glass survive. Ground floor, S-N, 2
windows with double casements in simple frames. 2 small C20
single casement windows sit in C18 moulded frames reduced in
depth. Between these, C18 front door with 6 panels, lower 2
flush, beaded, upper 4 fielded. Door case has moulded
architrave. 2 minor jetty joists over doorway suggest this to
be an original door site. S elevation, complex of rear ranges,
E-W, gable end of jettied range, rebuilt in early C18 in red
brick - some burnt headers, gable weather-boarded, central
contemporary stack, ground floor, lean-to porch with C20
French window with glazing bars, each leaf 2x5 panes, first
floor, C20 2-light casement with glazing bars, 4x2 panes and a
blocked window. To W, C18 projecting brick wing, colourwashed,
ground floor, simple timber porch with lean-to hipped roof,
C20 door, framed and panelled. Behind roof, principal stack,
lateral to early C16 block. To W, C17 N rear wing,
timber-framed, rendered on ground floor, weatherboarded above.
Ground floor, two 2-light casement windows with glazing bars,
4x2 panes, first floor, one 2-light window with glazing bars,
4x3 panes, lateral stack to block, rebuilt in C20, visible
above roof apex. To W continuation of the range with C18
smaller unit, brick and weather-board, end gable stack, ground
floor, 2 boarded doors and 2 windows with glazing bars,
alternating, one 2-light casement 4x2 panes and one single
light casement 2x2 panes. First floor, 2 lights, now fixed,
with glazing bars, 3x2 panes. W elevation, C16 range has
ground-floor casement window with glazng bars, 3x3 panes,
first floor has one casement 2x2 panes and one 2-light
casement with glazing bars, 4x3 panes. 2 dormer windows with
gabled roofs and a 2-light casement window, 4x2 panes - also
shaped barge boards. Barge boards of similar design on exposed
gable ends of N rear wing. N elevation, C16 range,
weatherboarded with shaped barge boards at rear. Ground floor,
3 casement windows with glazing bars, 2x3 panes, first floor,
one 2-light and one single light casement window, 4x3 and 2x3
panes respectively. Restored, attic, 3-light, mullioned window
in gable. To W C17 wing, rendered and weatherboarded, one
2-light casement window with glazing bars, 4x3 panes, old
stack, totally rebuilt in C20 to W smaller block,
weatherboarded with two C20 casement windows.
INTERIOR: 3 phases, (1), early C16 long jettied range of 4
bays, step stopped chamfers on principal joists, halved and
bridled scarfs on wall plates, close studding with very broad
internal tension bracing. 3 bays open on ground and first
floors, N end bay partitioned off with newel stair to attic in
NW corner, triangular sectioned solid treads and original
stairway boarding at attic level, shutter rebate under
tie-beam for stair window, evidence of associated doorways on
ground floor. Frame for N gable end first floor window,
centrally set with internal tension braces from window frame
down to middle rail. Roof originally had collars at bay
intervals, trapped side purlins (now removed and simple
collars nailed to each rafter couple). Phase (2), early C17,
addition of 2-bayed N rear wing, timber-framed with lamb's
tongue chamfer stops. 2 lateral projecting ground floor
fireplaces and stacks to rear of phase (1) block and on N side
of phase (2) wing, both heavily rebuilt, but shape retained.
Secondary partitioning in early block within second bay fron
S, probable site of C17 staircase. Phase (3), early C18,
construction on stair on site of earlier C17 one, shaped
handrail and turned balusters, rebuilding in brick of the S
gable wall of the earlier block together with a central stack.
Construction of the brick, S, rear wing and also, probably,
the low extension to the N wing. The internal plan of both
ground and first floors of the C16 jettied block - 3-bayed
open rooms on both floors with a single bay divided off at the
N end, is not domestic. Comparison of the plan with analogous
local examples, and the proximity of the church, suggests that
the building was no doubt a court hall. Such a building needs
2 entrances, one for the litigants and one for the judiciary.
One original doorway was no doubt on the site of the present
front door, leading into the divided-off N bay. The other was
most probably on the site of the C18 stairs, which rise in the
house, as an earlier staircase would have done, through a
doorway from the outside. The addition of the N wing, and 2
stacks may well indicate a shift in use to a house. The
rafters over the C17 wing are sooted, especially at the W end,
probably indicating an early kitchen which may have had a
smoke void for cooking at the W end, subsequently replaced by
the lateral stack.
(RCHM: Central and SW Essex : Monument 11: 218).

Listing NGR: TQ5709293746

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26584815

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

• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)