Nub News reported last Autumn on the renovation work at 4 Silver Street ("Chandlers") which involves peeling back layers of later alterations prior to sympathetic restoration. Since then, exciting new discoveries have enabled experts to date the building significantly earlier than previously thought.

The house is currently listed as a late 16th Century building, but work confirms that it contains the remains of a 15th Century house, with a single-storey central hall and two two-storey cross-wings.

This common medieval pattern can still be seen in the Swan Hotel on the High Street: though later additions have altered the front, the basic pattern is clear. At Chandlers, it is less clear today, because one wing was demolished and replaced with a lean-to for the garage.

The central hall was a common gathering place for the household and guests. The two wings had a "high" end, with private space for the family, and a "low" end for the preparation of food and drink.

The main entrance would be in the central hall, towards the "low" cross-wing, with a corresponding back door opposite. Fabric screens would make this into a semi-private passageway.

The position of the original doors at Silver Street show that the high end was to the south, and the low end to the north. Like other medieval Maldon houses, this means the high end was physically higher, being slightly up the hill from the low wing. The front of the high end probably contained the shop facing the street.

Maldon's earliest open hearth?

Researchers have found much soot-staining on the earliest surviving timbers. This is because at this stage the building was heated by an open fire laid directly on the floor towards the centre of the Hall. Although we illustrated a fine fireplace in the last report, this dates from later – a 15th century building like this had no fireplace or chimney, and smoke had to escape through gaps in the tiles, louvres in the wall or unglazed windows. A blackened area on the floor may be the hearth, and if this is so, it would be the first to be excavated in Maldon.

A rare survival

This isn't the only exciting discovery. A leather washer has been found nailed to a tie beam, with fabric trapped underneath. This is almost certainly a remnant of a textile screen which hung across the hall. Survivals of this kind are very rare.

Life in a merchant's house in medieval Maldon

The uncovering of the house's early fabric gives us a fascinating glimpse of life in the 15th Century. While the poorer townsfolk would have lived in cramped single-storey dwellings, this merchant's house would have afforded some comfort and style.

Entering from the front you would find yourself in a "screens passage" – a passageway which protected the hall from the cold by a screen. Turning left you would find yourself in the service wing of the house, with buttery, pantry and kitchen, and servants busily employed.

The hall itself, even though modest by country manor standards, would impress, with a high roof of intricately shaped timbers and a warm fire blazing in the central hearth, smoke rising and lit by shafts

of sunlight from the windows.

A fine table and benches at one end would be the focus for family dining, and perhaps business with visitors. Colourful hangings and cushions would soften the edges of the formal hall, and turning to the right you would enter the private parlour and sleeping spaces, with benches, chests and more wall hangings, plus beds which ranged from a large feather bed for the owners to small truckle beds for servants and children.

Work by Tim Howson, the District Council's Conservation and Heritage Specialist, is ongoing, and will probably eventually be the subject of a published report. The house's owner has kindly allowed us

to report these highlights.