Willot Hall

Willot Hall is a house with a complex history, originally a hall and later a farmhouse, dating to the later 15th century. Significant sections were rewalled using stone in the 17th century, with further repairs and additions in brick during the late 17th century. A major restoration and extension of the solar (a private room) occurred in 1939.

The building is constructed from a mix of materials: coursed squared buff sandstone rubble and English garden wall bond orange brick. The roof is covered in Kerridge stone slate, with stone ridge details and three lateral brick chimneys. The original layout was rectangular, with a two-and-a-half-story, four-bay front to the portion built before 1939. The three right bays are buttressed and feature 20th-century three and four-light stone mullioned windows with visible mouldings. Dormers with three-light windows are also 20th-century additions. To the left, the solar is constructed from brick on a rubble plinth, featuring two stone hood moulds. Brick bands define the first and second floors. A 20th-century chamfered stone doorcase contains a relocated original studded five-board door, accompanied by a 20th-century four-light mullioned window to the left. Above the door is a tall four-light stone mullioned window with segmental brick heads above, and a similar three-light window with painted leaded glazing within a stone-coped gable topped with a ball finial. Further additions are present on the left side, matching the style of the existing structure. A brick range with tall stone mullioned windows, brick bands, and lateral chimneys extends from the rear of the hall.

The internal layout retains the original hall, solar, screens passage, and service rooms, although some alterations have been made; the main hall has been opened up to the roof. Surviving timbers include a spherical truss and portions of other trusses, featuring arch-braced cambered tiebeams which carry a braced crown post that fixes to the collar purlin only. The rafters are modern replacements. The screen is timber-framed with three rebated doorways and wattle and daub infill. A gallery has been created above, incorporating Jacobean panelling, potentially reconstructed or relocated. A door with two large and two small central panels, all with raised fields, leads from the screen passage to an added kitchen, which has a large brick fireplace with a timber fire beam and chamfered ceiling beams. Another similar door accesses a pantry, both rooms featuring diamond-shaped stone flag floors. It is believed the original hall may have been timber-framed, as a fragment of an arch-braced wall plate survives within the main hall.