Late 18th century former farmhouse, Weeley House, 70 The Street, Weeley (EHER 34319)

A substantial Grade II listed late 18th century former farmhouse with a fine red-brick façade. It is a typical late-Georgian 'double-pile' house with twin parallel ranges containing four principal ground-floor rooms. The frontage boasts a three window range and centrally-placed front door. Gradual development of Weeley substantially reduced the property's curtilage, and both internal and external alterations have removed much of the building's original features. This house is also significant due to its use in World War Two as the Home Guard Headquarters of the 9th Essex Battalion.

April 1987. Grade II listed. Eighteenth century red brick house with plastered returns. The double range roof is hipped and covered in red plain tile, with two central red brick chimney stacks. The building is two-storey with attics. There are two gabled dormers to the rear block and there is a parapet and moulded brick cornice. The frontage has a three window range of small paned vertically sliding sashes, excepting the ground floor right which is without glazing bars. There is a central 20th century door with top light, reveal panels, moulded surround, brackets, and moulded open pediment. <1> July 2017. Heritage assessment. Weeley House is a substantial grade II listed late 18th century former farmhouse with a fine red-brick facade. It is a typical late-Georgian 'double-pile' house with twin parallel ranges containing four principal ground-floor rooms. The frontage boasts a three window range to the upper (and a window either side of the door to the lower) three of which have been replaced with modern counterparts. There is a centrally-placed front door with pedimented door case that may be partly original but has been largely rebuilt in the late 20th to 21st centuries. A contemporary cellar retaining its original brick floor lies beneath the right-hand room of the front range, complete with its external steps in the direction of the farmyard, now occupied by a mid 20th century bungalow. A substantial wing that projected at right-angles to the rear may have contained the kitchen and other services but was demolished in the mid 20th century. The house was originally built in an isolated position at the Southern edge of Weeley village, set in its own land with a farmyard to the North and a large 2.5 acre garden with fruit trees to the rear. It is first shown on the 1777 Tithe map. In 1939 the new Weeley bypass removed the SW corner of the garden and separated the house from its land. The farm buildings had been demolished by 1956 and by 1959 the farmyard had been replaced with a telephone exchange, bungalow and Police House. Further 20th century domestic development on the opposite side of the road make Weeley House rather incongruent. During the 1980s or 1990s, the right-hand front room was in use as a newsagent and general store, under the name 'Morrison's'. Internally, the staircase and general layout are preserved but few original features survive apart from a small number of Georgian flat-faced door surrounds. The original fireplaces have either been renewed or covered and the walls have been extensively dry-lined, but may conceal original features. Several imitation cornices and resin-moulded doors were fitted by a previous owner as part of an extensive recent refurbishment. <2> <3> <4> Weeley house is also significant due to its use as the 9th Essex Battalion Home Guard headquarters. <5> This use was previously detailed in record EHER 21566. <6> states that Col. Wyndham Birch was in command, with Major Evelyn Wood as Battalion 2 i.c., Captain H.F. Ellis as Adjutant and Lieutenant D. Roby as officer without appointment. 2018. Site visit as part of the Discovering Dad's Army Project. Weeley House still stands as No. 70, The Street, a red brick detached building built around the 17th/18th century. <7> One photo of site. <8>