The Shell House, Hatfield Forest, Essex

Client – The National Trust
Date of Completion – 2004

Built circa 1759 in Hatfield Forest (a medieval royal hunting forest owned by The National Trust) the Shell House is a unique timber framed garden building faced in knapped flints, with the architectural elements picked out in rind flints and shell decoration.  The lathes, render and facing decoration were delaminating and the brick plinths and base of the frame were structurally unstable.  Many inappropriate repairs with modern materials had also been carried out over the years.  It was on the 'Buildings at Risk' register.

Sympathetic repairs were carried out using lime concrete for the underpinning, handmade bricks to rebuild the plinths, English oak timber repairs, and hair/lime/chalk render in two tones to emphasize the dark knapped flint areas and the lighter rind flint areas.  It was reroofed using reclaimed black glazed pantiles and the top of the chimney stack was rebuilt with lime mortar and handmade bricks. The original shell decoration and upper parts of the front elevation flintwork were carefully conserved.