Cann Hall, Clacton (EHER 34706)

Early C16 timber framed house, with C18 and C19 alterations. A timber framed jettied house, built circa 1512 for St Osyth's Priory. The house was altered in the 18th century, and was refenestrated in the 20th century. It is "L" shaped in plan, and consists of two storeys. The plastered timber frame includes close studding, which is largely concealed, with some brick nogging infill to the south front. The building is jettied to the south front. The roof is tiled. To the north is a former detached kitchen which is now part of the house. After the suppression of the monasteries in 1539, the house was owned by Thomas Cromwell, later to Princess Mary and to Lord Darcy in 1553. The dating of the house is supported by dendrochronology.

Cann Hall is a two-storeyed timber-framed house dated by dendrochronology to 1511-12. <1> Dendrochronological analysis of 36 timbers from the hall and service range, the crosswing and the kitchen range produced a tree-ring chronology for the period AD 1301-1511. The latest timbers were felled in the winter/spring of AD 1511/12. <2> The house has a large two-bay hall, an in-line service end and an upper-end cross wing which projects to the rear. Clearly a building of considerable status, Cann Hall has close-studded walls (now concealed externally by render), a continuous jetty on the south front, an elaborately carved entrance and oriel windows to the hall and parlour. The infill on the jettied front was of brick nogging. The hall and parlour were heated by an original brick stack, which also provided a fireplace in the chamber over the parlour. Access to the first floor was via a turret in the re-entrant of the hall range and wing, but the present turret results from a later rebuilding. The hipped roof survives with comparatively little alteration or loss, and consists of a series of plain crown-post trusses retaining reddish ochre colouring up to collar level. Unusually, closure on two of the cross-frames is effected by means of studs face-pegged to the trusses. To the rear are the fragmentary remains of what was probably a timber-framed detached kitchen. Probably in the early 18th century the detached kitchen was integrated with the main body of the house and there were attendant alterations within the house. In the early 19th century the first-floor accommodation was refurbished to provide a series of bedrooms linked by a corridor along the rear of the building. In the 1970s or t80s the house was extensively renovated and extensions were added to the north and north west. Interior has exposed frame of high quality including open fireplaces, elaborate hall ceiling with transverse beam with highly ornate oak-leaf stops. Two axial beams with elaborate moulding and crown post roof with traces of reddish ochre colour remaining. After the suppression of St Osyth's Priory in 1539, Cann Hall passed to Thomas Cromwell, later to Princess Mary and to Lord Darcy in 1553. <3> Cann Hall is of particular importance on two counts: first for the completeness of its survival; and second for its combination of a late crown-post roof with an early incidence of an integral stack and fully-storeyed accommodation. <4> Additional references <5> <6>