Braughing

24. BRAUGHING.

(O.S. 6 in. ^(a)xiv. N.W. ^(b)xiv. S.E. ^(c)xiv. S.W. ^(d)xxii. N.W.)

Roman

(1). See Unclassified below.

Ecclesiastical

^c(2). Parish Church of St. Mary, stands in the N.E. corner of the village. The walls are of flint, partly covered with cement, and the dressings are of clunch and stone. The Chancel was built c. 1220, the Nave, Aisles, West Tower, and South Porch with parvise, are all work of the first half of the 15th century, but possibly the nave retains a few stones of the early 13th-century building. The North Chapel (now used as vestry and organ chamber) was added early in the 17th century, and has been repaired. Much external stonework was renewed in the 19th century.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (34 ft. by 16½ ft.) has two early 13th-century lancets in the N. wall, much repaired; one is blocked, but can be seen in the vestry, into which the other also opens. The other windows and the blocked doorway in the S. wall have been almost entirely restored, but retain a few of the old stones inside. The chancel arch, of two moulded orders, is of the 15th century, but the bases and capitals of the jambs are modern. In the North Chapel the E. half of the floor is raised, to cover a vault; the windows are modern. The Nave (63 ft. by 16½ ft.) has 15th-century arcades of four bays with compound pillars having moulded capitals and bases, and two-centred arches of two orders; in the wall E. of the N. arcade is a small trefoiled opening into the N. aisle; in the S.E. corner are the stairs to the rood-loft, with one doorway from the aisle, a second, blocked, at the level of the former loft, and a third opening on to the roof, above which the staircase is carried up in an octagonal turret, finished with an embattled parapet. The clearstorey windows, each of three lights, have 15th-century inner jambs, but are otherwise restored. The North Aisle (12½ ft. wide) has an unglazed E. window of three lights with old jambs and modern tracery, opening into the vestry; the three N. windows and the W. window are all of the 15th century, each of three lights with modern tracery; the N. doorway is blocked, and its label stops are decayed. The South Aisle (15 ft. wide) has windows resembling those in the N. aisle, and an original S. doorway, with moulded jambs, a pointed arch in a square head, and a label with defaced head stops. The West Tower (14 ft. square) is of four stages, with square angle buttresses to the lower stages, an embattled parapet and a slender leaded spire. The lofty pointed tower arch is of c. 1420; in the W. wall is a square-headed doorway with traceried spandrels, and above it is a three-light window with modern tracery. The third stage has small quatrefoil lights, and the bell-chamber has tall two-light windows with traceried heads, all repaired. The South Porch, with parvise, is higher than the S. aisle. It has gabled square buttresses at the angles, and an embattled parapet with crocketed corner pinnacles; the doorway has a pointed arch under a square head, and the side windows are of two lights with traceried heads, repaired. The floor has been removed from the upper room, which has a square-headed S. window of two lights. The chancel Roof has old trussed rafters with three modern arched braces; the nave has a 15th-century roof with plastered panels, moulded ribs, carved bosses, and figures of angels at the feet of the intermediate trusses; the E. bay is more elaborately treated than the others and its colour decoration has been renewed; the aisles have 15th-century roofs of similar detail, with trusses supported on stone corbels carved as angels holding shields; the old timbers remain in the flat roof of the N. chapel, with an inscription painted on the wall plate recording the building of the chapel by Simeon Brograve (ob. 1638).

Fittings—Bells: eight; 4th 1628, 5th 1562, 6th 1615, 7th 1653, and 8th 1631. Brasses: on the E. wall of the S. aisle, of a civilian and his wife, c. 1485: on the floor, to Richard Grene, inscription only, 1561: to another Richard Grene, inscription and heraldic shield, 1610: of Barbara Hanchett, with inscription, 1561: lower half of woman's figure, probably late 15th-century. Font: modern: at E. end of N. aisle, recently replaced in the church, disused font, early 14th-century, mutilated; with flat wood cover, early 17th-century, much decayed. Monuments: on N. side of chancel, to John Brograve, died 1625, and his younger brother Charles, died 1602, alabaster and marble, with round-arched recess, in which are their recumbent effigies in armour; their armorial bearings are in a cartouche above the recess: on wall, same side, to Simeon Brograve, 1638, and Dorothy, his wife, 1645: on S. wall to Augustin Steward, 1597, alabaster, bust in armour: to Sir John Brograve, 1593. Niches: on each side of W. doorway, niche for image, with canopied head and foliated finial: in S. wall of parvise, two niches with foliated arches under square heads. Paintings: at W. end of N. aisle, large picture of the Resurrection, probably part of 17th-century altar piece, recently discovered and placed in present position. Plate: earliest pieces 1718. Seating: in the nave, a few buttressed bench ends and fronts, oak, 16th-century. Stoup: in S.E. corner of porch, with a round basin, slightly broken.

Condition—Good substantially, much restored; a few of the stones outside are decayed: on the tower and S. porch is a great deal of cement, which is scaling off the walls of the porch.

Secular

Homestead Moats

^a(3). At S.W. corner of Turk's Wood, nearly circular, with entrance on S.W.

Condition—Good.

^c(4). At Hobb's Farm, fragment.

^b(5). At Cockhampstead.

^{c, d}(6). Upp Hall, house, barn, and moat, 1 mile S.E. of the church. The house is of three storeys, and built of red brick, the roofs are tiled. The greater part is of early 17th-century date, and is half H in plan, the wings being on the E.; the space between them has been filled in by a modern hall, and a modern wing has been added on the N.E. The W. front has two gables, with plain brick copings of later date; under the northernmost gable is the main entrance, the marks of its junction with a former porch being visible in the wall on each side; the door, with four-centred arch and good strap hinges, is original, but partly repaired, and is flanked by pilasters supporting a pediment: the plinth and two moulded stringcourses which mark the first and second floor levels are cut off square at the N. end, and the return wall is modern, indicating that the house once extended further N.: the windows on the ground and first floors are unusually wide, and have modern oak mullions and transoms: in the gables are smaller windows of three lights, with brick hood-moulds, and above them are small bullseye openings: near the S. end is a blocked niche or hole a few feet above the ground (see also barn). The S. end of the main block and both the E. wings are gabled; the northernmost wing contained the original staircase, now destroyed; and at the junction of the other wing with the main block the chimney stack is partly old. The disposition of the rooms has been altered: in the hall is a large open fireplace, probably inserted late in the 17th or early in the 18th century, as it partly blocks a window on the W. A room on the first floor has a stone fireplace with moulded jambs and a Tudor arch, now painted.

Opposite the chief entrance to the house are the two large posts of the original main gateway; they are of brick with stone caps and ball heads.

The exceptionally large barn (140 ft. long). N.W. of the house, built probably 40 or 50 years before it, is of red brick with diamond patterns picked out in blue bricks, and has gabled ends; the roof is tiled. At the W. end of the S. front are traces of two wings, one smaller and of later date than the other, on the same site. There are two large entrances on the N., now blocked, and two, of modern brickwork with four-centred arches, on the S. The narrow loop lights, in two ranges, are of different dates; the older lights have arched, and the others have square heads. In the N. wall outside, about 4 ft. from the ground, are two small arched niches, one with an inner recess behind it.

A small 17th-century building of brick with a tiled roof, called the 'Granary', stands N. of the house.

The moat now consists of two ponds.

Condition—Buildings, good. Moat, poor.

^c(7). House, W. of the church, formerly an inn, now divided into two cottages, is of late 16th or early 17th-century date. It is a two-storeyed building of timber completely covered with plaster; the roof is tiled. The plan is rectangular, divided by cross partitions, and there are three brick chimney stacks. On the street front the upper storey projects, and the plaster is divided into square and circular panels decorated with carbuncles, etc., in low relief. In the ground floor room there is a partly built up fireplace, with a moulded beam over the opening. Two of the rooms have ceilings with moulded ribs.

Condition—Good.

^c(8). House, S. of the church, now divided into a cottage and schoolroom, built early in the 17th century, of timber with herring-bone brick nogging; the roof is tiled. At each end of the main front, which faces N., the upper storey projects, and is gabled. The plan is rectangular, but the interior has been so much altered in the 19th century that its original arrangement is uncertain, and the greater part of the floor over the schoolroom has been removed.

Condition—Good.

^c(9). The Causeway, S.W. of the church, is a red brick and timber house of early 17th-century date. The front, plastered probably late in the 17th or early in the 18th century, has rusticated quoining in plaster, and retains the old window frames and fastenings. The interior has been much altered; the newel staircase is probably original, but repaired.

Condition—Good.

^c(10). Fordstreet Farm is a two-storeyed plastered timber building on brick and flint foundations, of early 17th-century date. On the street front the plaster is decorated with comb-work, and there is a small overhanging bay window.

Condition—Good. It has been much altered and repaired, both inside and out, during the 19th century.

^b(11). Rotton Row, a farmhouse, nearly 2 miles N.E. of the church, built probably in the 16th century and altered in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries; it is of two storeys, with timber-framed and plastered walls. The plan was apparently of half H shape, but the space between the wings has been enclosed. The main block has a gabled roof covered with slate, and the wings have lower gabled roofs, tiled, with hipped ends. The two plain chimney stacks are of thin 17th-century bricks. On the S. front the main entrance opens into a passage, which is part of the original hall; the rest is used as a parlour, and has a large 17th-century fireplace, filled in with a modern grate and cupboards, one containing the original chimney-corner seat. The position of the moulded ceiling joists shows that this fireplace replaces an earlier and larger one. In each wing is a narrow enclosed staircase with oak steps, built probably in the 17th century, and now disused. The principal staircase was added in the 18th century. One room on the ground floor is panelled with oak of early 17th-century date, now painted.

Condition—Fairly good.

^d(12). Thorpe House, formerly an inn, in the village of Puckeridge, on the E. side of the main street, is a two-storeyed 17th-century timber building, plastered externally; the roofs are tiled, and there is a central chimney stack. Some of the windows retain their original frames, and at the S. end of the front is an old, wide, timber gateway. The interior has been much altered.

Condition—Good.

^d(13). The Crown and Falcon Inn, near Thorpe House, probably built c. 1530, is a timber house plastered externally; the upper storey projects on the S. and W. sides, and is supported on a moulded bressumer. On the W. is a wide, timber gateway with a four-centred head and old doors, and under the archway a small doorway, with a four-centred head, is also original.

Condition—Good. The chimneys, windows, and the interior of the house have been much restored and altered.

^a(14). Farmhouse, now three tenements, in the hamlet of Dassels, on the E. side of the Barkway road, was built c. 1610, on an L-shaped plan, with the longer wing facing W. The walls are of timber and plaster, and the plaster is decorated with a combed pattern; the roofs are tiled; the roof of the longer wing is hipped at the N. end; the shorter wing is gabled at both ends, one gable being at the S. end of the W. front, against which a large chimney stack is built; of the octagonal shafts only the moulded bases remain. The main wing has a central chimney stack with a cluster of square shafts set diagonally. The windows are much altered, though a few of the original casements remain; the doorways are modern. The interior has been completely re-modelled, and all the old fittings removed.

Condition—Fairly good; interior defaced.

Unclassified

^c(1). Lark's Hill, or Lark's Field, is the promontory of a hill, which runs out, S.E. of the village, between the high road (Ermine Street) and the Great Eastern Railway. It has a steep western slope and terraces along the E. end, which 18th-century antiquaries took to be the artificial defences of a Roman station. There is, however, nothing to show that the steep slope is other than natural, and the terraces now look like cultivation terraces rather than defences. A Roman mosaic, indicating a dwelling house or farm, is said to have been found somewhere on the hill about 1799; many Roman remains (coins, potsherds, oyster shells) are recorded from the neighbourhood of the railway station 700 yards S. of the hill.

Condition—Covered with trees.