Walls and turrets NW, W and SW of Beckingham Hall (EHER 39213)

A boundary wall to the courtyard of Beckingham Hall (EHER 11386) which has turrets at each corner and a gatehouse (EHER 39212) to the west. It was built in 1543-1546 from red brick for Stephen Beckingham.

December 1959. Grade II listed. Walls and turrets of courtyards, built in 1543-1546 from red and blue bricks in irregular bond. From a point 30 metres north-west of Beckingham Hall (EHER 11386) the wall extends 30 metres to the WSW, then 40 metres to the SSE (this section including a gatehouse, EHER 39212) and then 37 metres to the WNW to join the south-west corner of Beckingham Hall. At the south corner a turret forms one side of a formerly arched gateway (arch missing), and another turret 4 metres to the SSE forms the other side, and the wall continues one metre SSE to meet a 19th century agricultural building. There is another turret at the west corner. The wall is approximately 2.5m high. It was built for Stephen Beckingham and is shown in its relationship to the (then) larger house on estate map of 1637 by Samuel Cosin (Essex Record Office, T/M 4/3). <1> See photos <2>. April 1960. Field survey. Enclosure walls with gatehouse and turrets are as described above, and are in good condition. See general photographs AO/57/91/5-7, of walls and gatehouse. <3> At the north-west angle of the boundary wall of the great courtyard is a circular hollow turret. At the South-west angle is a plain circular turret forming with a similar turret further south a pair flanking an outer gateway; the gateway arch has been removed. Near the middle of the north and south sides of the main courtyard are the bases of two more turrets. Grade 2 8/183. Condition of gatehouse and walls, poor. <4> <5> Beckingham Hall, gatehouse and enclosure wall, including turrets. Scheduled as an Ancient Monument. <6> The wall and turrets, 1543-1546, are of red and blue bricks in irregular bond. From a point 30m south-west of the hall the wall extends 30m to the WSW then 37m to the WNW to join the south-west corner of the hall. At the southern corner a turret forms one side of a formerly arched gateway (the arch now missing) whilst a second turret 4m to the SSE forms the other side. The wall continues 1m SSE to meet a 19th century agricultural building. The wall is approximately 2m high with a chamfered plinth 0.5m wide, the main body of the wall being 0.32 m wide with a steep V coping. <7> Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import.