18th to 20th century farm buildings at Brick House Farm (EHER 48221)

The buildings recorded at Brickhouse Farm in 2012 comprise an important element of a larger farm complex with medieval origins, both with the obvious presence of the Wealden-type farmhouse but also the survival of an associated medieval building of a similar or slightly later date. With the house's conversion to an agricultural building the complex of farm building expanded significantly over the next 200 years to include typical buildings associated with a prospering farm; the cartshed, granary, further building for livestock or crop storage, with later additions being carried out in the 19th as well as the 20th century.

April 2012. Building survey. The buildings recorded at Brickhouse Farm comprise an important element of a larger farm complex with medieval origins, both with the obvious presence of the Wealden-type farmhouse but also the survival of an associated medieval building of a similar or slightly later date. With the house's conversion to an agricultural building the complex of farm building expanded significantly over the next 200 years to include typical buildings associated with a prospering farm; the cartshed, granary, further building for livestock or crop storage, with later additions being carried out in the 19th as well as the 20th century. Building 1 is a large, eight-bay timber-framed barn aligned north to south, aisled on the west, with two porches on the east and many outshuts and additions. The barn is mostly weatherboarded, rising to a steeply pitched roof covered with corrugated sheeting and hipped at both ends. The frame sits on a brick dwarf wall. This has been augmented and obscured in places with cement, but where the earlier brickwork is visible, appears to comprise 18th century fabric of a similar form to that underpinning the Listed granary as well as the curtilage wall enclosing the farmhouse. As noted, the building is now mostly weatherboarded, but the central section and flanking porch walls preserve render at upper level where they have been protected by later additions, and the historic configuration survives in good condition within the north outshut, where the typical Essex arrangement can be seen with upper lime render and lower weatherboarding. The two porches differ slightly; that to the north rising to a half-hipped roof with a rendered gable over boarded doors, (the doors probably later), while the south porch has a fully hipped roof but the doorway is now infilled with modern cement blockwork. Building 3 is a flimsy and poorly-constructed barn framing the east side of the farmyard. It is weatherboarded to the exterior over a brick plinth, pierced by a number of metal-framed windows on the east and west, most of which are modern. The north end has a single boarded split door, ledged and braced to the rear giving access to the north bay, while a second door on the east is simply boarded. The roof is covered with corrugated metal sheeting and is hipped at both ends. Acro-props now give additional structural support. The building has six bays, with the northern bay refurbished as an office and separated from the rest of the building. The south remains open plan but supported throughout with acro-props. The walls are rendered with only a few principal posts expressed, and otherwise pierced by the metal framed casements noted from the exterior. Building 4 occupies the south side of the farmyard and comprises a largely steel-framed barn with a number of small cartshed/garage additions on the south. Although of little interest it does occupy the location of an earlier building of similar dimensions, apparently destroyed by fire in the 1940s. <1>