Anne Padfield delivered the first talk to the High Country History Group. The talk was held in the Parish Room, St Mary’s Church, Stapleford Tawney, on Thursday 24th February. The talk presented an illustrated tour of a large selection of local buildings having historic features or connections. The buildings were mainly drawn from the High Country area. Several recurring themes accompanied Anne on her tour.
The re-use of buildings formed one theme. Ivy covered, Ivy Cottage, in Greensted Green, now a domestic building, was originally a small, local school. The building that houses the Piggott Brother’s business was the local Workhouse, serving several neighbouring parishes. A smithy has been incorporated into Cutlers Forge Cottage. Public houses have been converted into domestic buildings. Re-use or development of a building was often accompanied by the extension of the building, the present fabric then dating from two or three distinct periods. Clear indications of such modification can often be discerned in variations in the level of the roof; for example, The Talbot, previously the “The Talbot Inn”. In the case of the “The Woodman”, it is the domestic building that has been converted into a pub.
Clues to the previous style and age of the house can still be evident in present, visible features. Clues from internal features include blackened roof timbers, associating the building with an original hall house construction, where the smoke from a central fire drifted through a hole in the roof. There are good examples in the area at “The Woodman” and Clements Farm, Toft Hill. Internal features illustrated included bread ovens; for example, in Mole Trap Cottages and Little Timbers, Mount End.
The slope of the tiled roof on “The Woodman” is steep and the construction of the roof has been strengthened at a later date. This suggests that the roof was likely to have been thatched originally. The orientation of the joists in the same building further indicates an early date for its construction. The vestiges of mullioned windows can be seen in several buildings in the area, dating the buildings to before 1560–70 when mullions gave way to the use of glass.
Among easily visible external features, chimneys, the size of which often displayed the wealth of the owner, were frequently illustrated in the talk. There are good examples of large chimney groups in Ongar, High Ongar and at Lawns Farm, Stanford Rivers, where the chimneys are imposing. On closer inspection, it can be seen that some chimneys have been either rebuilt or reduced in height at some point during their life. Sometimes clues have occasionally been obscured, for example, much later brick cladding of the exterior of Does Farm, Stanford Rivers.
Other houses referred to included Great and Little Tawney Hall, the latter being Anne’s own house. The tour had commenced with St Andrew’s Church, Greensted. The church was much restored in the middle of the 19th century, because of the partial decay of the oak timbers. However, remarkably, it is the only survival of an English log church. Anne finished her talk at Hill Hall. Following its use as a women’s prison, and a disastrous fire in 1969, the building has recently been restored by English Heritage. It is notable architecturally in its very early incorporation of certain classical features by the enlightened owner, Sir Thomas Smith, a real Renaissance man, in the mid 16th century.
Anne Padfield’s talk demonstrated very clearly her knowledge, feeling, and enthusiasm for village building. Anne displayed a scholarly approach to its history and its evidence. Above all, the talk encouraged the wider appreciation of the subject. The audience, totalling 45, will be persuaded to look on this visible, often familiar evidence with new eyes.