An important Grade II listed period residence dating back to the 16th century with numerous additions and improvements during the early 1700s and both the Georgian and Victorian periods. The property retains features from both these periods yet still provides modern family living space over three floors. The property has been replumbed and rewired to meet modern standards and has benefited from renovations totaling £200,000 over the past three years with many original features restored. There are eight double bedrooms over two floors, three ensuites with a family bathroom and family shower room. There are seven ground floor receptions. The property enjoys a large walled garden with expansive lawn with raised hardwood decking and stone patio above. The detached former Coach house is currently utilised as a workshop, garage for two cars and storage. There is an extensive brick paved courtyard with parking via double electric entrance gates and PP for a three-bay enclosed garage if required. Beautiful riverside walks are accessed directly (along Moat Farm Chase) from the house. Witham mainline station 5-minute walk with direct 40-min trains to London every 15 minutes until after midnight. Town centre 15-minute walk alongside the River Brain. EPC exempt.

THE PROPERTY

Barnardiston House is an impressive period residence set in the heart of picturesque Chipping Hill with an important history. Many of the original features have been restored by the current owners, including flooring, wall panelling and timber window frames. The front and back of the house were repainted in 2024. The property is in excellent condition both internally and externally, also benefitting from an impressive garden, landscaped by horticultural specialists in January 2024. The garden boasts a set of stately stone steps, as well as a magnificent, decades-old, magnolia tree that flowers with fragrant white blooms, and several fruit tree varieties, some producing tasty apples. The garden is accessed from three points in the house; the kitchen, the principal reception room and the rear study/garden room. The current residents have enjoyed entertaining in the garden, including a recent garden party attended by 160 guests.

An extensive paved brick courtyard is set above the rear garden, which is predominantly lawn, and is accessed via double electric entrance gates to the east of the house. The courtyard currently offers parking for five cars and is served by a detached coach house offering further garaging for two additional cars, workshop and adjoining storage. Planning permission is also in place for a three-bay enclosed garage, if required.

ACCOMMODATION

Internally the property offers a sensible floor of living space over three floors. A beautiful reception hall, featuring a pair of pillars, gives access to all the principal receptions, the inner hallway and the turning staircase to the first and second floor bedrooms. From the reception hall, the inner hallway leads to a second stairwell in the most recent extension (2003).

On opening the front door, the reception hall features a beautiful hob cheek fireplace and looks directly through to the SW terrace. The impressive formal dining room looks onto the front of the house via three sash windows with original shutters, and benefits from predominantly original wood flooring and a stunning Tudor-style fireplace with gas stove protected by Georgian panelling. A ground floor study with a Victorian fireplace and studio also looks onto the front of the house. The studio is accessed from the inner hallway, which leads to the east wing. This section of the house also provides a good-sized utility room, cloakroom and vaulted garden room to the rear with double doors onto the stone terrace.

The stunning principal reception room (20’6 x 19’11) also opens to the rear garden via the stone terrace. The room features a grand central pillar, two further sash windows with original shutters, solid oak flooring and a built-in log burning stove with planning permission in place to restore the original fireplace.

Steps lead down from the central reception hall, beyond the stairwell, to a charmingly cosy family snug area, with a low exposed-beam ceiling. The snug features an ornate fireplace with gas stove on a stone hearth and ample storage on either side of the stack. Beyond the snug area is a beautiful kitchen garden room located on the southwest wing. It features floor-to-ceiling Crittall windows and three sets of Crittall doors opening onto the extensive circular decked terrace above the garden. The fully fitted, newly repainted and resurfaced kitchen bisects the two receptions, with the snug on one side and a light-drenched family dining area with space to seat 10 on the other. The kitchen is served by a pantry and cellar.

Between the first and second floors, there are eight double bedrooms. The two top floor bedrooms are attic rooms. Bedroom seven is currently utilised as a cinema room.
These rooms enjoy their own quirky, historic stairwell, as well as a shower room. This section of the house also provides extensive storage and would be ideal for an au pair or teenagers. The remaining double bedrooms are spread across the first floor.

The master looks onto the garden via a generous sash window and enjoys an ensuite bathroom, dressing room and feature fireplace with gas supply if required. Bedroom three, arguably the most characterful, also looks onto the rear garden via dual aspect, also benefiting from an ensuite bathroom. Comfortably accommodating a large four poster bed, bedroom two is the largest of the eight and looks onto the front with the benefit of another ensuite and restored original floorboards.

Four and five are also good-sized doubles and interlink, offering an ideal nursery or potential first floor study to one of them, if required. Bedroom six is another double. The first-floor family bathroom contains a large historic bathtub that’s been in position for well over 100 years. Both the bathroom and neighbouring cloakroom feature recently restored original floorboards.

All the first-floor rooms are accessed by a grand arched upper hallway, accessed at both ends by sets of turning stairs. The historic staircase is lined with restored oak panelling. At the other end of the upper hallway is the second more modern stairwell to the east wing, rising to a galleried landing with lantern roof flooding the entire landing with natural morning light. The wide upper hallway and both sets of stairs have been recently recarpeted with a premium stain-resistant sisal carpet.

The accommodation is generous, light and full of character. It offers fantastic versatility for modern-day living.

HISTORY

Barnardiston House dates partly from the 1500s with many additions including the imposing brick front, and wrought iron railings with cast tops. The interior has some 17th century paneling and a beam carved with the initials 'E. C.' and inscribed 'ANO DOM 1610'.

The origin of the property is not known, the first documents being a will of 1567 by Maude Burche followed by various deeds of sale, until it was bought in 1626 by Dame Katherine Barnardiston, a Puritan who conducted a campaign against Francis Wright, the Vicar of the Parish. A Trust was set up, the terms were that the rent of the property was to support a preacher and if not the funds should be used to educate the poor. The Essex Records office in Chelmsford has many documents relating to this trust and who the tenants were. Refreshments for Spa customers were served here in the 1740s when the Witham Spa, further up the road in Powers Hall End, was fashionable.

It became a 'Young Gentleman's boarding School’ in 1858 until 1894. Francis Crittall, the future philanthropic industrialist was a pupil here in the 1870s and found it like the 'sunwashed fragrance of a spring day' compared to 'fear wrecked' schooldays in Braintree.

Dame Katherine Barnardiston’s trust remained in place until 1921 when the property was named Barnardiston House and was bought by sweet pea breeder, Hugh Dickson, who was escaping the troubles in Ireland and it remained in the Dickson family until the early 1950s, after which it is rumoured to have been the residence of an MI6 spy. It is still possible to buy seeds for a sweet pea he bred in 1938 called Air Warden. The building became a private nursing home in 1984, and returned to a private residence in 1997, and is listed Grade II and in a conservation area.

LOCATION

The Essex town of Witham dates back to medieval times and still retains much of this historic character today. The lively high street boasts an array of pubs, restaurants and shops, as well as a weekly market. There are plenty of opportunities to be active, as the town has a dance academy, a highly regarded rugby club, a skatepark and ample green space. The community enjoys a number of well-attended annual events, such as the Medieval Fayre, carnival and puppet festival. With excellent links to London, Witham railway station is a 5-minute walk from the house, with 40-minute direct trains to the city running every 15 minutes, until after midnight. The town is home to multiple nurseries and primary schools, and two main secondaries. The renowned independent school Felsted is a 20-minute drive away.

Chipping Hill was the heart of Witham’s original Saxon village, and many of the houses in the area retain medieval elements. There is a friendly and active community in Chipping Hill, with neighbours gathering for monthly get-togethers at the local pub. Accessed from the side of the house, there are several beautiful waterside trails and dog-walking routes, following the River Brain through Witham. One particularly pleasant route runs for just under two miles on flat footpaths from Chipping Hill to the Wheatmead Nature Reserve, which is teeming with wildlife. The Blackwater Rail Trail also starts in Witham. The shared cycling and walking trail takes you to the picturesque coastal town of Maldon along a disused railway.

The sandy beaches of the Essex coastline are 30-40 minutes away, by car or train.

All main services connected.
Gas fired central Heating