19th century farm labourers cottage at Robin Cottage, Pleshey (EHER 80762)

An early 19th century farm labourers cottage that was enlarged through the 19th century as the farm grew.

March 2022. Level 3 building survey. The cottage was originally built as a two-up two-down dwelling for farm workers around 1820. It has a simple scantling nailed interrupted studwork frame with a gambrel roof, all machine cut from an unidentified timber. As the farms fortunes improved, the building was doubled in size by adding a higher quality brick pile with fireplaces on each floor to provide four good sized bedrooms. The cottage is built from yellow London stock bricks with polychromatic dressings popularised in the latter half of the 19th century. The timbers in the gambrel frame have all been mechanically sawn and then hand finished on site. Gambrel style roofs are typically mid 18th century in style, but the form continued in to the mid 19th century using low quality short sections of scantling timber. Today, only the south wall and the gambrel roof frames are retained. The timber is hard to identify as it is not elm, but it does not appear to be softwood. Shown as a single pile on the 1846 Tithe Map, the building was doubled in size by 1875. The north pile is made from yellow London stock bricks which were popularised in the 1830s and continued in use to around 1900. The windows are 4/4 large pane sashes without horns which may have been a stylistic choice at the time of construction. The glass is very clear and may all have been replaced. The conjoining wall and gambrel roof was remodelled in the mid 19th century with larger inserted studwork, the windows of the older frame blanked off or converted to doorways on the ground floor. Lower ceilings were inserted in the gambrel roof but the central rafters were retained leading to alcoves in the ceilings. The brick building was equipped with integrated firestacks for fireplaces at each end and on each floor serving four rooms. The gambrel pile must have had fireplaces but they are all lost and the current fireplace in the dining room is from the 1970s. There are areas of brick noggin besides the fireplace presumably to reduce fire risk. The mapping shows outshots on both ends but these have both been replaced in the 20th century. The garage is a simple structure with 1930s style doors and machined timber frame. It replaced a simple outshot. The kitchen was built in 1974 of contemporary materials with a brick skin and blockwork cavity walls. The brick fireplace in the dining room is either of this period or was extensively rebuilt from a 1930s fireplace with a new narrow flue. <1>