Chandlers (EHER 38455)

A late 16th century, or 15th century, timber framed and rendered house with a long two-storey 17th century rear extension. The house is of two unequal but parallel wings at right-angles to the street, which are two storeys over an extensive 19th century cellar. To the north flank there is a lean-to 20th century car port with a pierced red brick northern flank wall and Welsh slate roof. The building has very extensive late 19th century cellars with a brick barrel-vault. The building retains many original features such as its high quality timber frame, embellished fireplaces and an original painted harvest scene. A watching brief in 2021 during the installation of a new floor in on the front rooms, formerly an open hall, recorded evidence for the sequence of construction of the building.

September 1971. Grade II* listed. A late 16th century timber framed and rendered house with a long two-storey 17th century rear extension. The main block has gabled plain tile roofs and the rear range has a gabled plain tile roof. The house is of two unequal but parallel wings at right-angles to the street, which are two storeys over an extensive 19th century cellar. The Silver Street frontage has two gables with 19th century barge-boards, linked by a short length of timber framed parapet. Each has a two-storey cant-sided bay window. An off-centre entrance has a moulded projecting hood on console brackets. To the north flank there is a lean-to 20th century car port with a pierced red brick northern flank wall and Welsh slate roof. The building has very extensive late 19th century cellars with a brick barrel-vault. The rear range has weatherboarding to the first floor and is rendered on the ground floor. The ground floor has a 20th century glazed lean-to bay window. This range is, in part, 17th century with much reused timber and has a chimney stack with a hole in the flank for a smoking chamber. Internally, there is a very high quality late 16th century timber frame, providing a condensed plan form. The wall between the wings has a mid rail as was typical of brick houses of the period. An original chimney stack in the north wing has a wide rebuilt fireplace on the ground floor, and had a stone fireplace, now moved to Beeleigh Abbey (EHER 7760). The first floor has a stone fireplace with a frieze of roses either side of the cartouche and a smaller fireplace in the south wing has a semicircular hearth. On the ground floor is the surviving jamb of a late 16th century door opening and, above a fireplace, an early painted harvest scene. <1> See photos <2>. April 2021. Watching brief. The floor of No.4 Silver Street was taken up to remove the timber floor dated to 1919 and to remove the soil that had been placed between the joists presumably to act as insulation. The room had already been identified as being the open hall of a timber framed building thought to date to the 15th century. The stratigraphic sequence from the top was: the timber floor, laid onto a 200mm deep raft of soil used to level the room. At the north end the joists were laid onto a section of brick pavement which must have covered the entire room but was dug out (most likely in the Georgian phase of development). The bricks match those used in the firestack and therefore will be mid 16th century. The bricks were laid on a 25mm deep mortar bed and a layer of compressed clay based soil about 60mm – 90mm deep. This sealed a construction trench for the insertion of the brick and flint plinths that passes around the entire room. From the removal of the brick pavement was a trample layer up to 50mm deep in places which sealed the scorched surfaces associated with the level of the tiled hearth. The remaining tiles were stacked on edge and sintered together by heat and stood proud of the rest of the hearth which had been dug out. A large patch of loose ash which contained a small piece of unburnt wood was spread over the scorched earth and the tiles. It seems likely a fire was lit after the hearth had been removed. Large sherds of burnt pottery were recovered including a cauldron handle with a pie-crust rim. The trample layer also sealed a patch of daub about 1m x 0.5m which sealed an irregular feature filled with loose pebbles and sand. This could have been put there to stabilise the floor but may also have been building waste from the new wattle and daub walls put up in the 16th century. Next to this feature was a more definite round post hole also filled with loose pebbles and sand and was probably used for a prop during construction. Close by was another definite area of black scorching as though hot ashes had been dumped there. To the north-east of the tiled hearth was a large area of scorched black earth (more than 2mx2m) and it could be assumed this is where the fire was raked out to before disposing of the ashes. <3> A late 16th century timber frame in the form of two parallel wings. The rear staircase tower employs reverse assembly, containing a winding stair with splat balusters. The roof is A frame with arched braces to the collars. On the first floor there is a stone fireplace, its equivalent removed and refitted at Beeleigh Abbey (EHER 7760). An early painted harvest scene survives over another fireplace. <4> The name Chandlers heralds from Joseph Chandler, formerly of No.11 Cromwell Hill (EHER 38269), who acquired the house in 1919. This source provides an extensive account of the ownership of the property. <5>. Note: The Old Custom House (EHER 38432) has an A-frame roof which is identical to that of No.4 Silver Street.