5-7 Church Street

5-7 Church Street INTRODUCTION 5-7 Church Street comprises two main phases of build, a high end cross-wing gabled to the street and a later two storey hall/service range, parallel to the street, that replaced the original open hall. The ground floor of the front elevation contains modern windows and shop fronts whilst the jettied first floor has exposed timber-framing. The cross-wing was one of the buildings to be successfully tree-ring dated with a firm terminal date of 1454 spring. Core 48, taken from a common joist, gave the terminal date with other cores giving a range of 1444-1482. Although cores were taken from the later hall these were not successful. Its carpentry suggests a date in the first half of the 17th century. Axonometric drawing of the timber frame of the cross-wing at 7 Church Street THE CROSS-WING (7 Church Street) The cross-wing is constructed of well converted oak in the typical close studded style of the area with external trenched braces of Colchester type i.e. from vertical to vertical instead of vertical to horizontal. The storey posts are unjowled, a feature that has been noted around Colchester and the coastal area of Essex and in more than one building in Coggeshall. Jettied to the front it is of three unequal bays totalling 28ft 8ins in length and 15ft 6ins wide with a jetty overhang of 1ft 7ins supported on three brackets. There is not a central bracket in this instance as it appears to have been positioned to the left side of a window. A fully studded partition divides the rear bay from the front two which have supporting braces to the transverse beam. Evidence survives in the form of open mortices in two in line common joists for a high end recess intruding into the ground floor of the front two bays with a door at the north end giving access to the parlour. The evidence for this is the small mortice for a door jamb against the transverse partition wall. The midrail to the hall, across the recess, is moulded with the following elements: hollow chamfer, bowtell, step and bottom hollow chamfer. There is evidence for a pegged bracket at the north end of the recess but the south end is covered. The average size of the common joists is 7½ x 5½ins and they are unchamfered with bare faced soffit tenon housings. The south transverse bridging joist is 10 x 11ins with chamfers and run-out stops. It is shouldered and housed into the storey post. In the rear bay, against the partition, a 3ft 7ins wide stair trap is framed into a common joist. Unfortunately, due to later changes, its length could not be determined. As the partition between the parlour and rear bay appeared to be fully studded, access to the rear bay is uncertain. Many of the studs to the side and rear walls have been replaced but the position of a window could be determined in the central bay against the south storey post. The rear wall appeared to be fully studded with one trenched brace falling from the west storey post to the mid rail. At first floor level the division of the three bays is as the ground floor with most of the internal surfaces covered. The front two bays were lit by a window to the gabled front and another to the east side above that to the ground floor. The rear bay has one window to the west where the cross-wing overran the hall; as its east side has been rebuilt, no evidence survives there. The west wall plate is joined with an edge-halved and bridled scarf. The roof is of typical undecorated crown post construction with narrow axial braces, collar purlin, paired rafters and collar. Unlike the majority of cross wing roofs in Essex both the front and rear elevation are gabled. The inner crown posts only have an axial brace to the front. THE REBUILT HALL (5 Church Street) The replacement to the original open hall and service end at no.5 measures 24ft 0ins x 15ft 6ins wide internally, is two storied, and of two bays with open frames to both the east and west ends. It is constructed from oak, elm and reused oak possibly from the demolished hall. Oak is used for the main frame, external studs and main axial beams with the common joists and transverse beams of elm. The rear wall of the first floor has reused oak studs and the inserted ceiling joists and most of the roof is elm. The front is jettied continuing the line of the cross wing although the joist ends are covered with a moulded bressumer. Oak studs to the first floor on the street elevation have chiselled carpenter’s marks in the usual Roman numeral form with number nine as a V (five) with an additional down stroke rather than IX. A brick stack is positioned to the east of the central truss in the hall but it is not defined by a stack bay. There appear to be doors in both the rear and front elevations of the ground floor with that to the rear positioned against the west wall of the cross-wing. A gap in the pegholes of the front jetty plate, against the west open frame, represents another. Due to the changes to the front wall only part of a small window to the east of the central post is visible. Evidence for small windows in the rear wall of each bay is visible and a large window as evidenced by the wider gap in the studding to the front wall of the west bay. It would appear that the two bays were minimally divided by the brick stack thus forming a hall 12ft 2½ins long, and a service room, 11ft 10ins long. The brick stack, now reduced to just a support on the ground floor, would have intruded into the hall. The floor joists are of vertical section and housed into the axial beams with shouldered soffit tenons and diminished haunches. There is no clear evidence for a stair trap but this is likely to have been placed to the front or rear of the stack. At first floor level two chambers are formed to the same length as the rooms on the ground floor but 17ft 2ins wide. There is a large window in the front wall to each of the bays but no evidence of mullion profile. The ground floor windows appear to have been glazed but again a mullion profile is not discernible. The open frame at the west end has the trapped exposed framing of a pre-existing adjoining three storey building whilst the east end has the framing of the earlier cross wing. Whilst new oak is used for the close studding of the front wall the rear wall is of reused oak. The ceiling joists and beams are in elm and appear to be a later insertion suggesting that the upper floor was originally open to the roof. The roof is a clasped side purlin with collars housed and pegged to the principal rafters that do not coincide with the bay divisions. The rafters are paired and additional collars are bird’s mouthed over the top of the purlin. DISCUSSION The terminal date of 1454 gives a firm insight into the carpentry style and mouldings of the era. Unfortunately, due to the replacement of the earlier hall and possible service end, the original purpose of the building whether purely domestic or part commercial cannot be answered. The replacement hall/service end is open framed against a now trapped three storey frame to the west of the replaced hall. Whilst this indicates that there was an existing building there at that date it does not offer any evidence for the original length of the hall/service end. The recessed high end is a feature often found in urban situations where there is a limited plot width. It serves to extend the length of the hall in a similar way to that of the under-shot cross passage of 19 East Street. The door from the recessed high end into the front two bays of the cross-wing appears to be at the north end where there is a narrow mortise for a door post. As the door has a dropped head the wattle groove continues either side of the mortise for the short central stud to the door head. The partition between the parlour and the rear bay appears to be fully studded and the height suggests that a dropped head would not be practical. If there is no door in the cross partition the existence of direct access to the stairs from the parlour has to be questioned. Evidence from other buildings suggests that access to an upper storey was sometimes via a stairs directly from the rear of the hall. In the replacement hall a door is positioned in the rear wall adjacent to the high end recess. Did this building function in a similar way? HISTORY In the 1575 rental survey John Guyon was the owner of the plot with George Lawrence to the west and Coggeshall Hall land belonging to Mr. Longe to the east. .

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