EDWINSTREE HUNDRED much hadham 



lordship, a large house of early 18th-century date, 

 built of red brick. The cornices have modillions 

 and carved mouldings and all the window sashes are 

 flush with the outside. The house has been altered 

 inside. A range of stables runs up to the main road. 

 Over the central archway is an elaborate bell-turret 

 of wood. There is some good wrought-ironwork in 

 the gates and fencing. South of the Lordship stand 

 the Palace, once a residence of the Bishops of London, 

 and St. Andrew's Church. The Palace is a house of 

 two stories with attics. The walls are of brick and 

 the roofs tile-covered. No part of the existing build- 

 ing appears to be earlier than the 1 6th century. 

 The oldest part of the house is H-shaped on plan ; 

 the connecting block formed the original hall, the 

 principal rooms being placed in the west wing and 

 the domestic offices in the east wing. An l8th- 



into five bays. The curved brackets at the ends of 

 the tie-beams have been removed to give head-room 

 in the passage, but the mortise holes in ties and posts 

 are still visible. The principal staircase is in the 

 west wing ; it is of late 17th-century date, with 

 square newels with ball tops, heavy moulded balusters 

 and deep beaded handrail. There is a quantity of 

 17th-century oak panelling in the house, and some 

 of the rooms have carved arabesque friezes. Founda- 

 tions of walls can be traced in the meadow west of 

 the house, and a bank round the meadow up to the 

 main road marks the old inclosing walls. An avenue 

 of trees formerly led from the south side of the 

 house, where the principal entrance probably was, 

 to the main road west of the site, but only a few trees 

 remain. North of the house are 1 7th-century stables, 

 the front part of which is built of brick ; the wing 





The Lordship Stables, Much Hadham 



century block was added to the east wing and several 

 modern additions have been made on the north side. 

 In the 1 8th century the west front was burned and 

 rebuilt. The original house appears to have been 

 timber-framed, but in the latter part of the 17th 

 century the outer walls were encased in brickwork. 

 Both east and west wings are gabled and there are 

 two cross gables over the old hall. All the chimneys 

 are plain, but two are built of early 17th-century 

 bricks. The interior of the house has been much 

 modernized. The hall, which was originally open 

 to the roof, has been divided into two rooms and a 

 floor inserted, making it into two stories ; this was 

 probably done in the early part of the 1 7th century. 

 A passage was also formed along the north side to 

 connect the east and west wings. The old black and 

 white stone paving of the hall still remains, and on 

 the first floor, showing in the passage, are the tie- 

 beams of the 1 6th-century roof, which was divided 



behind is timber-framed and brick-nogged. In the 

 gables of the dormer windows on the west side are 

 plaster devices, two of them being the escarbuncle so 

 common in the district which appears to have been 

 a stock pattern in the 1 7th century. 



The rectory stands to the south of the church. It 

 is a timber-framed and plastered building of early 

 1 7th-century date, with modern additions on the east 

 side. The old part is L-shaped, but has been con- 

 siderably modernized. In the old entrance vestibule, 

 now disused, on the west front is some 1 7th-century 

 oak panelling and carving. On the first floor are 

 two 17th-century oak chimney-pieces, richly carved 

 and moulded, and some panelling of the same date. 

 All the work has been painted. 



There are a number of 17th-century houses in the 

 village, but many have been altered and refaced. 

 On the west side of the road at the south entrance 

 to the village is a cottage known as the Morris 



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