The Granary
The landmark at the end of the hard
Standing at the end of the hard beside Woodrolfe Creek, this weatherboarded timber-framed granary is one of Tollesbury’s most distinctive surviving buildings – and one of its most precarious.
Built in the nineteenth century, it was used to store grain brought in and out of the village by water, when the creek was a working commercial waterway rather than a sailing marina. The building sits on timber and concrete piers over the mud, with loading doors, a hoist, and the kind of practical, unadorned construction that characterised Essex maritime vernacular architecture at its best.
It is Grade II listed, recognising it as a structure of special architectural and historic interest. Despite that protection, it has been on Essex County Council’s Buildings at Risk Register since 1992 – a designation that means it is deteriorating and its future is uncertain.
In 2006, the Granary was nominated for the BBC Two series Restoration Village, which championed neglected historic buildings across the UK. It reached the regional final for the South East, where it competed against Massey’s Folly in Hampshire and the Watts Gallery in Surrey. At £255,000, it was by far the cheapest of the three to restore – but it did not win, and the restoration has not yet happened.
The question of what it becomes next remains open, Tollesbury Marine Heritage has a new plan which it is seeking support.