Late C16 timber-framed and plastered house built on an L shaped plan with wings extending to the west and north. The house has been restored and renovated in the C20 and all the timber-framing exposed. Two storeys and attics. Casement windows (C20). Roofs tiled. The south block has an original central chimney stack with 4 octagonal shafts with moulded caps and bases, on a square base. The interior has C17 panelling and doors, exposed timber-framing, ceiling beams and joists.
From An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex, Volume 1, North West (1916)
Pollards Cross Farm, house, 3/8 m. E. of the church, is of two storeys with attics. It was built in the second half of the 16th century on a modified L-shaped plan with the wings extending towards the W. and N. There are modern additions on the W. side and at the end of the N. wing. The doorway to one of the modern additions has an original door of moulded and studded battens, with a drop-handle and strap-hinges with ornamental ends, re-hung. In the S. wall is an original window of four lights with moulded oak mullions and transom. The original chimney-stack has four tall shafts with moulded bases and modern at the top; on one side of the rectangular base is a sunk panel with chamfered edges.
Inside the building on the ground floor, are two original moulded wall-plates. and an original fireplace with a four-centred arch and moulded brick jambs. On the first floor are two similar fireplaces; one of them has a moulded shelf, and a partition of old panelling now covered with paper. There are several late 16th or early 17th-century panelled doors, two with carved frieze-panels.
Actress Florence Desmond lived with her husband Charles Hughesden in Pollards Cross during the Second World War. In this short comedy video from 1943, part of the Airs and Graces series, she answers questions about the farm and shows us her latest ‘land girls’, Flanagan and Allen.