Description

BRENTWOOD

TQ69SW MIDDLETON HALL LANE
723-1/9/91 (East side)
20/02/76 Middleton Hall

GV II

House, now preparatory department of Brentwood School (part
qv). C18, additions 1898-1900. Red brick with stone dressings;
old peg tile and C20 tile roofs, mainly behind parapets.
Elizabethan style. L-plan of early E-W block and added wing to
N at W end.
EXTERIOR: 2 and 3 storeys. S front elevation, plain C18
rectangular block, brickwork ruddled and tuck pointed,
particularly evident at W end. Parapet with cornice and lower
stucco band, rebuilt c1985, at same time stucco quoins removed
but scars remain. C18 fenestration - of E end, 2 storey, 4
first-floor window range, deep sashes, 3x4 panes - of W end, 3
storey, 2 window range, widely spaced, one ground and one
first-floor window, sashes, 3x4 panes, 2nd floor, one 3x4
panes, one 3x2 panes. 2 stacks above, to W. Central, late C19
3 tiered stone porch in Elizabethan style, stepped back,
ground floor 4 Tuscan columns with central elliptical headed
doorway and 2 round-headed side lights. Door, 2-leaved, upper
glazing and lower sunk panels, balustrade above with central
foliage panel. First floor, T-shaped mullioned and transomed
bay window, 1:3:1 lights with pierced strap work balustrade
swept up to centre. Second floor, broad 5-light mullioned and
transomed window surmounted by parapet with, taller central
device, coping swept up to enclose. To each side similar late
C19 mullioned and transomed windows, asymmetrical to
accommodate existing difference in storeys. At E end, large
late C19 stone and brick bay window on ground floor of 5 cants
with similar windows, two 2x3, one 3x3, two 2x3, pierced
strapwork parapet with central decorated lunette, parapet
stepped over. Rear, N elevation, E half of C18 block exposed
similar to W end of S front, 3 storey with 6 paired bays,
first-floor windows sashes with glazing bars, 3x4 panes.
Second floor similar, 3x2 panes. Ground floor, E end, large
C19 canted bay window similar to one on S front, plain
parapet, 3 cants, 2x3, two 3x3 and 2x3 panes. Two C19 narrow
windows, 1x2 panes. Similar window 2x2 panes. Sash window with
glazing bars, 3x4 panes, C18 type. Double sash window, each
3x4 lights. To W late C19 wing gable end with central stack
and C20 ground floor projection. C19 sub-wing to W with large
stack at roof apex. Ground floor, 2 mullioned and transomed
windows, 2x2 lights, first floor, 2 narrow windows, 1x2 lights
and corner diagonal oriel window on corbel, 1x2, 2x2, 1x2
lights. To E of C18 house, later C19 and C20 additions,not of
special interest and not a part of this listing. The C18
stucco quoins survive at ground floor level at the E end. W
end elevation, to S, C18 house, similar to other elevation
with tuck pointing, parapet with cornice and stucco band,
quoins removed. 3 storeys with sash windows, first floor 3x4
panes, second floor 3x2 panes. On both levels window second in
from S altered, upper louvred, lower blocked. Ground floor,
one C18 window at S end, 3x4 panes. To N, C19 5 cant bay
window, similar to those on S and N elevations, N-S cants,
blank, 2x2, 3x2, 2x2, sash with glazing bars, 3x4 panes. To N,
C19 2 storeyed wing with recessed bay adjoining old house,
ground floor, 5 panelled door with lights above and at sides,
first floor, window, mullioned and transomed, 3x2 lights, then
bay windows through both floors with attic gable, both windows
mullioned and transomed, double 2x2 lights, pierced strapwork
parapet above. Bay with flush windows and attic gable, both
windows double 2x2 lights, bulls-eye with 4 keystones above in
attic gable. N end, diagonal oriel on first floor, seen on N
elevation. E end elevation. To S, 2-storey C18 house, similar
to S elevation with quoins removed, ground floor obscured by
later additions. First floor, at S end, two 3x4 sash windows
with glazing bars, some brickwork, repointed, showing a
vertical straight joint at the centre line. Behind, to N, C19
block with additional recessed linking bay to C18 house. Link
has ground floor panelled door with lights above and to sides.
Above, first floor window, 3x2 lights. Main C19 block has 5
bays with pierced parapet, end stacks and a facade gable with
keystone roundel at N end. Second bay from S has tall ground
floor window, elaborated with clasping pilasters and blank
intermediate panels between pair of upper and pair of lower
lights, above, strapwork and elliptical bulls-eye with 4
keystones. S to N, bays 1 and 2 windows have 2x2 lights, bay 3
has 1x2 lights, N bay, 3x2 lights. C20 ground floor extension
to N, not of special interest.
INTERIOR: considerably reworked in late C19 with late C18 and
Jacobean style decoration of ceilings, friezes and fireplaces.
Central staircase in C18 block now boarded in but in C18
style. The anomaly of both the 2 and 3 storey division of the
C18 block apparently due to the C18 house once being L-shaped,
of 3 storeys with the W end the principal front. Floor board
alignment implies a central W-E passage from the W side. A
thick internal wall breached through, running S-N on E side of
present hallway appears once to have been a load-bearing wall,
defining the rear extent of the house, which, from window
evidence on the N side, continued as a wing towards the E. The
2 storied area to the SE appears to be a later C18 build,
infilling an internal angle, hence the straight joint visible
on the E side. When the parapet of the whole C18 house was
renewed in c1985, timber-framing is said to have been found in
the brick walling of the SE section. It may well be that the
L-shape of the first brick build was dictated by an earlier
C17 timber-framed building in the internal angle. If so, this
would explain the anomalies and make the house an example of
`alternate' rebuilding. The re-arrangement of the house making
the S front the principal elevation is probably late C19, when
the elaborate porch was added. A cellar lies beneath part of
both C18 and C19 blocks. 2 brick culverts exit from the cellar
beneath the N side of the C18 house, also a water cistern, now
with a man-hole cover, lies to the E of the C18 house.
Middleton Hall, together with the garden wall east and wall
and railings west (qv) form a group.

Listing NGR: TQ6009894066

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26584839

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2