In Upminster sits a 300 plus-year-old ivy covered house that is at "immediate risk of further rapid deterioration" - but do you know of the history behind it?
The Grade II listed High House Farmhouse sits in Ockendon Road in Upminster and is now more than 300-years-old according to history site Old Upminster although the adjacent timber-framed wing appears to be of even older origin.
Old Upminster describes High House as an "old, distressed, ivy-covered tall brick house".
Upminster historian T L Wilson said the first occupiers of High House was the family of Michael Fallet who had fled from France at the revocation of the edict of Nantes.
This action by King Louis XIV in 1685 revoked an edict made 87 years earlier which had given Protestants freedom of worship and other rights in Catholic France.
This triggered an exodus from thousands of Protestants who fled France to avoid persecution.
Fallet, a "wealthy merchant who imported and exported goods from France" bought High House and other land at Corbets Tey in 1699 from Sir Polycarpus Wharton for £1,000, according to Old Upminster.
Other buildings on the same estate included The White Horse at Corbets Tey which had its own cherry orchard, former beerhouse The Huntsman and Hounds, former inn The Anchor and several cottages.
Historic England has the origin date of High House to be around 1700.
If accurate, the house would have been built either under Fallet's ownership or during that of his predecessor Sir Wharton.
According to Old Upminster, in 1881 Wilson thought that High House was already around 200-years-old.
Fallet died in 1730 and the estate was left to his unmarried daughters Elizabeth and Susannah and on Susannah’s death, High House was passed to her niece Mary Freeman.
The building had several occupiers throughout the following years and was used as a boys' boarding school from 1804 until 1843 run by John Saunders.
In 1815 the property was passed to Captain Thomas Eden Blackwell, whilst the boarding school continued, and High House remained in the Blackwell family until 1924 when it was sold to Edward Clark, who had been farming the adjacent 30 acres of land.
Neither Old Upminster nor Havering Libraries have any information on the history of the building from this time onwards but Historic England notes the building is under private ownership.
High House is described as being in a state of "high vulnerability" by Historic England who has the building in priority level A.
Whilst its original listing on the site notes it as a "remarkable survival of fine quality", the assessment information section says the building is at "immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric".
Earlier this month, enforcement action was launched in connection to High House Farm with Havering Council saying "it appears to them that the amenity of a part of their area is adversely affected by the condition of the land described".
Steps required to improve the condition of the land include works items linked to brickwork, windows, walls, roofs and more.
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