Watching brief by Essex County Council at Castle Inn, High Street, Earls Colne, 2002 - EEX53515

An oven of typical side flue pattern of the early 1800s. Originally it was a self contained building with its own roof. This was dismantled and the oven enclosed within a large stables building with its walls keyed in to create a small warm store. When abandoned, the metal work began to corrode leading to the collapse of the coal oven doors and grate followed by the failure of the wrought iron tie-rods. Once these had broken due to corrosion, the brick vault began to shift and start to collapse. The chimney was dismantled to the ceiling level of the stables and the void used for casual storage. The working side was blanked off with a breeze block partition most probably within the last 30 years.