Harnham Hall

Harnham Hall is a house that likely dates from the 16th century or early 17th century, with alterations made in the late 17th century and refenestration in the 18th century. It is constructed of random rubble, with the front pebbledashed, and features a stone slate roof.

The original layout was probably a hearth-passage plan, which was changed in the late 17th century to a central staircase plan with a downhouse. There is a tower attached to the rear of the building. The house is two storeys high and has four windows. To the left, there is a late 16th or early 17th century doorway with a Tudor-arched surround and a multi-moulded floating cornice. The central doorway, added in the late 17th century, features a Tudor-arched lintel, a broad chamfered surround, and a hoodmould decorated with small nailhead designs. The windows are 12-pane sashes set in raised surrounds, and there are said to be remnants of mullioned windows visible beneath the pebbledash in different positions. The steeply-pitched gabled roof has flat coping and kneelers, with a corniced ridge stack to the right of the earlier doorway and similar external end stacks.

The rear tower is notably built over the edge of a cliff and is said to be medieval, although its walls are only about 2 feet thick and it shows no features earlier than the 17th century. The tower has a vaulted basement and two storeys above. On the ground floor, there is a 3-light mullioned window with a multi-moulded cornice, while the first floor features a blocked mullioned-and-transomed cross window with a similar cornice and a 12-pane sash in a similar surround. The tower has a plain parapet with a higher turret in the northeast corner.

Inside, there is an open-well early 18th century staircase with turned balusters that have square knops and clustered shafts at the newels. In the drawing room, a large high-relief plaster roundel depicts a dragon surrounded by oak leaves, which is the crest of the Babington family, who owned the house from around 1660 to 1677. The room also features a large 17th century fireplace with a segmental lintel, into which an early 18th century stone fireplace with a pulvinated frieze has been set, along with flanking early 18th century cupboards. A first-floor room in the tower contains a fine early 18th century corner cupboard with arched panels, a scrolled pedimented top, and shaped shelves. Many of the doors in the house are two-panel doors.