Description

TL 82 SW COGGESHALL ROBIN'S BRIDGE ROAD (east side)

5/173 Cradle House

- II

Building of uncertain purpose, possibly a gatehouse or hunting lodge, now a house. Mid to late C16, altered in C18 and C20. Timber framed and plastered, partly of red brick in English bond, roofed with handmade red plain tiles. 2 bays facing SW, with right gable, external stack and stair outshut of red brick, and external stack at left end. C20 wing to front, forming a T-plan, and C20 flat-roofed single-storey extension in each angle. 2 storeys. 3 C20 casements on ground floor, 2 on first floor, and small light in gable. Board inscribed 'FTH 1938' in gable. C20 door in right extension. The rear elevation (facing NE) has 2 C20 casements on the ground floor, 4 on the first floor, and 2 C20 doors under a combined lean-to canopy. The right gable (facing SE) is crow-stepped on the front slope only. Outside this stands a large C16 chimney stack with 2 attached hexagonal shafts, truncated, and a stair outshut in front of it. The outer elevation of the stack is extended forwards and backwards by fin walls with sloping offsets and roll mouldings. On the face are diaper and other geometrical designs executed in flared headers. In the face of the stair outshut are 2 chamfered rectangular loops, with modern sheet glass. Jowled posts. Cambered tiebeams, at the right end and middle each having 2 arched braces set at a shallow angle; the middle tiebeam also has mortices for studs and a groove for wattle infill, probably indicating an earlier use. The braces to the left tiebeam are missing, but there are mortices for them. In the girt of the front wall are 3 diamond mortices of a former unglazed window. Most of the studding in the front and rear walls has been removed; some later studding has been substituted. 2 later tiebeams have been inserted at half-bay positions, probably in the C17 or C18. The axial beams are unchamfered, with plain joists of vertical section flush with the soffits, probably an C18 alteration. At the right end is a wood-burning hearth of exceptional width with a moulded mantel beam, and in front of it an arched recess below the stair. The stair opens off the ground-floor room near the front corner and forms a narrow sloping tunnel which re-enters at the first floor. Its lower doorway is blocked and concealed by an C18/19 corner cupboard with profiled shelves and plain head, the whole mounted on hinges and dropping back into the doorway. At the left end is a wood-burning hearth with jambs 0.46 metre wide, and a replaced mantel beam. The building is shown on an estate map of 1619 as 'Bochiersgatehouse als Hithertowne field als littel gathouse' (Essex Record Office T/M 195). It is shown as Cradle House on a map of 1731 (Essex Record Office D/DU 19/2). In the 1842 tithe award of Marks Hall parish it is described as 'Cottage and garden, 2 rods and 23 perches', owner Rev. Philip James Honeywood, occupier Osgood Hanbury (Essex Record Office D/CT 234). RCHM (Markshall) 4.

Listing NGR: TL8438923970

External Links

• Wikidata Q26416185

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.

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