18 West Stockwell Street

‘urban medieval complex’: the Stockwell Arms in West Stockwell Street
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[The photo. was taken in 2009, before the renovation works.] The Stockwell Arms in West Stockwell Street is a Grade II listed building. It was a beer house from 1871 to 1958, when it became a public house, and it was a pub. until 2009, when squatters moved in. It has since been acquired by new owners and renovated, and it is due to re-open as a restaurant in 2012.
The listing entry reads:
‘… Late C15 much restored. 2 storeys, timber-framed and plastered, the roofs tiled. Cross wing at north end with the upper storey projecting on the west and north sides, moulded and embattled bressumer, heavy diagonal angle bracket with moulded capital carved with an angel (defaced), curved brackets supporting the overhang with shafts and capitals – though most of these now buried in the modern pebble dash plaster which covers the whole building between exposed studwork, much of it renewed. 2 gables at south end front. Interior has moulded ceiling beams …’
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In February 2012, the Colchester Archaeological Group (CAG) published its annual bulletin for 2011, and this includes an article by historic buildings expert Richard Shackle which has a section about the Stockwell Arms. The article is titled ‘A selection of hall windows in medieval Essex open hall houses’ (pp 16-35; for the Stockwell Arms, see pp 19, 33-35). He describes the building as an ‘urban medieval complex consisting of a hall and two cross wings and a separate cross wing from another house. In the main house, the two cross wings are 15th century while the hall is probably 14th century. Originally there was an inline 14th-century house which, in the 15th century, had its end cut off and cross wings built instead …’.
For drawings of the timber frame by R Shackle, during the renovation works, go here.