s p d e s i g n 127a elderfield road, hackney, london e5 0ay. email: [email protected],tel:07748646541 Heritage Statement Marden Ash House, High Ongar Heritage Statement Marden Ash house sits at the top of Stanford Rivers Road, in the parish of High Ongar half a mile south from Chipping Ongar Church. This is now essentially a suburb to the south of Chipping Ongar but historically it has links with High Ongar. However, it is not included in the Chipping Ongar Conservation Area. The name ‘Marden’ has been used since the 11th Century and means 'boundary valley'. It is thus likely that it marked the boundary of Chipping Ongar and High Ongar. The property is a Grade II* Listed Manor House originally built in the late 17th Century, and was later remodelled in the mid‐18th Century and re‐faced in red brick, in a regency style. It’s construction is attributed to a gentleman called Nicholas Alexander (see below). The House is set within private grounds of approx. three quarters of an hectare. The building is oriented on an east‐west axis, with large gardens to the north and south. The north garden is bounded by a high red brick wall, enclosing a large open lawn and extensive tree growth towards the rear, and to the east. In the North West corner there exists the remains of a bathing pool in a very poor state of disrepair; that may have been added when the house was remodelled. In the West Wall is an arched opening with a metal door and some decorative ironwork surround. This is also in a state of disrepair and will be addressed at a future date. From the map illustration of the OS Counties map of 1873 it indicates this was access to a more formal garden and orchard, beyond the wall that sadly no longer exists. See Fig.1 The south garden is not walled and is a large open lawn bounded on the southern and eastern borders by groups of mature trees, including a 500 year old oak, and a similarly aged Cedar. On the west side is a boundary wall between Marden Ash House and the adjoining residences that were formerly the coach house and stables of the Marden Ash Estate. Fig.1 Extract of OS map 1873: Note formal garden in the adjacent field to the North Garden The main coach house had been separated from the Estate and permission granted to convert it into private residences in 1971. The main coach house has a clock tower and cupola that still exist today. At the rear of Marden Ash House is a courtyard, walled in to the south and west, and bounded to the north by a single storey out building that was most likely a scullery. This had been modified in 1988 when a change of use granted to the owner to convert Marden Ash House into a nursing home. Whilst the majority of the interior was retained, some additional elements were added at the time. In particular a two storey extension to house a new staircase from the first floor down to the single storey ‘scullery’ within the courtyard. The structure was built in brickwork to match the existing, and at first floor there is a recess in the brickwork that my client seeks to open out: the size and proportion of this recess, including a fanned brickwork head, are similar to the adjacent windows of the north elevation of the main house. There is no recess to the west elevation, however this area is in need of natural light. Internally, the existing stairs have been refurbished in a style to match the main staircase within the house). Marden Ash remained a nursing home until 2013, and in that period had suffered a great deal of neglect. It proved too costly for the previous owner to completely restore the house and the property was then sold in 2016 to my client Mr Patel. , Mr Patel has begun to carefully and sensitively restore it to a single family home. Repairs to the windows have been made, and a small chimney reinstated within the kitchen area. A new internal stair up to the attics has been approved and installed. The Kitchen/Breakfast Room has been entirely refurbished and any evidence of it’s prior use as a nursing home no longer exists. The House is at the centre of the estate and is an imposing structure in itself. It is of a regency style with a red brick façade of two storeys and as outlined in the English Heritage Listing: TL 5502 ONGAR MARDEN ASH STANFORD RIVERS ROAD 9/138 Marden Ash House‐ II* Listing NGR: TL5511002011 House. Probably built by Nicholas Alexander late C17. Altered mid C18 when cased in red brick and new front added. Grey slate roof with 3 flat headed dormers. 2 storeys, attics and basement. Parapet front stone capped, with dentilled and moulded cornice. Central band. 3:3:3 window range of C19, small paned vertical sliding sashes. The front breaks forward to right and left. Central 6 panel door with reveal panels, Ionic columns, moulded frieze and dentilled soffit to pediment. 2 red brick chimney stacks with white, square chimney pots. South front of 6 bays. Interior with a fine late C17 staircase and mid Cl8 detail. Late C18 plaster decorated ceiling in Adam style. The drive, as you enter from Stanford Rivers Road is laid out just as it was in the 1873 map (Fig.1 above), with the exception of the pathway/drive that lead to the coach house along the south garden. This no longer exists and the south garden is given over to lawn. To the north, as you enter, a section of the boundary wall had collapsed, but was recently rebuilt, under the guidance of Maria Kitts. The drive is bounded on the East with a wooded area with extensive tree growth. The majority of the trees are protected by TPO’s. Fig.2 Marden Ash House Entrance Elevation Fig. 3 Central 6 panel door with reveal panels, Ionic columns, moulded frieze and dentilled soffit to pediment Fig. 4 Marden Ash House from the south lawn, with the old coach house building, with clock tower and cupola intact. Fig.5 Marden Ash House from the north garden. 1988 extension enclosing staircase from 1st floor, on the right. Note: top left and 4th from left, dummy windows in trompe l’oeil Fig. 6 View of stir enclosure from existing courtyard (west elevation) Externally the house requires a lot of work in repairing some of the original brickwork. Care will be required where the ‘tuck pointing’ to the front elevation is in a poor condition. Proposals to amend brickwork where it is spalling due to freeze/thaw action will be presented to the council at a future date. The inclusion of these new windows are set out in drawings and images attached to this application. In terms of visual impact I do not believe this will have a negative impact on the property itself, but will allow for sunlight to enter a space that is currently reliant of electrical lighting to navigate. Therefore we ask that you approve this application HISTORICAL CONTEXT. Set out below are notes on the History of Marden Ash House including information given freely by Dr Michael Leach, who co‐authored ‘Aspects of the History of Ongar’, published by the Ongar Millennium History Group. His assistance has been invaluable in researching Marden Ash House and the noted Nicholas Alexander. Notes on history of Marden Ash House Pevsner, N & Bettley, J, 2007, Buildings of England: Essex, Yale UP, pp.589-90: Marden Ash House, late C17, re-fronted in mid C18. Large, of nine by six bays, two storeys with parapet. Ionic pedimented doorcase. Inside a handsome staircase with twisted balusters, and in one room an Adamesque ceiling. C18 stable block with clock turret and cupola (now houses). Powell, W R (ed), 1956, Victoria County History of Essex, OUP, iv, p.172 Marden Ash House, described in 1768 as a ‘seat’, was probably built by Nicholas Alexander late in the C17.1 It retains a fine staircase of this period. Externally the external appearance of the house was entirely changed in the middle of the C18, when it was cased in red brick and a new front was added. The front is of two storeys with nine windows to the first floor. It has a central doorway with half round Ionic pilasters and a pediment. There is a modillion cornice and a parapet, with pedimented dormers above. Internally there is some good mid C18 detail and a later ‘Adam’ ceiling. The oak overmantel in the Jacobean style was carved in the C19. 2 The C18 stable block has a clock turret and cupola. 1 Morant, Essex, i, 132. In 1919 it was reported that there was sundial in the garden, dated 1697 (Hist. Mon. Comm. Recs) 2 Inf. From Mr S H Jones, the present owner RCHM, 1921, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments: Essex, ii, p.133 Marden Ash House, about ½ mile S of Chipping Ongar church, is of two storeys with basements and attics; the walls are of brick and the roofs are covered with slate. It was built late in the C17, but about the middle of the C18 the whole building was re-faced and the roof probably raised. Inside the building the original staircase has moulded handrails and strings and twisted balusters. One room has a late C16 carved overmantel, brought from elsewhere and made up with modern work.