Austerson Old Hall

Austerson Old Hall is a hall house, originally built probably in the mid-16th century and dismantled before being re-erected at Alvanley in 1980. It was originally located in Austerson, Crewe and Nantwich Borough. The building is constructed of oak small framing with rendered panels, brown brick, and has a clay tile roof, which was incomplete at the time of inspection in 1984. The hall comprises a three-storey cross-wing and a two-storey long wing with an attic, containing two rooms on the lower level.

The cross-wing is built with oak small framing, featuring closely spaced studs and a single rail to each storey, set on a plinth partially of old brick and partially of tooled sandstone. Jetties are present at the first and second floors, supported by replaced ovolo bressumers and featuring four old carved bressumer brackets. The long wing has brick cavity walls to the lower storey, with narrow-panel small framing above. Brick chimneys are located at the junction of the wings and laterally on the long wing. Doorways are situated in the middle of the long wing on the south-east side, and by the junction with the cross-wing on the north-west side. The cross-wing has two oak-mullioned leaded casement windows to each main storey on its long face, and one replaced window to each storey in each gable end. The north-west side of the long wing features two windows to each main storey and a gabled dormer to the attic. The end gable has one window to each main storey and one to the attic. The south-east side of the long wing has one window to the lower storey and three to the upper storey.

Inside the cross-wing, the floors feature ogee-stopped ovolo beams and a queenpost central truss supporting purlins with scarf joints locked over principal rafters. Brought-in sandstone fireplaces are also present. The upper storey, attic, and roof of the long wing are largely constructed from reused oak timbers, with oak joists dovetailed into assorted ovolo and slightly hollow-chamfered beams. An inglenook is located on the lower storey, featuring an altered ovolo-fronted tapered bressumer. The internal structure suggests the cross-wing dates to the Elizabethan period and the long wing is a 17th-century addition utilizing reused timbers. The original entrance to the Elizabethan portion is now located in the lobby. The reconstruction was carefully executed, using original timbers, old brick, and tile wherever possible.