Old Hall Fold

Old Hall Fold is a house located on Newmarket Road in Ashton-under-Lyne. It is a medieval cruck-framed structure that has been incorporated into 18th-century walls and a roof. The exterior is made of English garden wall bond brick with a graduated stone slate roof. The house features three bays and two storeys, with a crosswing on the right that projects at the front under an outshut roof. There are four, two, and two-light casement windows on each floor, with one window located beneath a wide cambered brick arch. The entrance door is situated between the first and second bays, and there is a passageway to the right that leads to Taunton Hall. A brick ridge chimney stack is present on the roof.

The rear of the building has been rendered and includes 20th-century casement windows, a small kitchen wing, and an altered shippon wing attached to the left gable. A notable feature of the building is the preservation of three impressive cruck trusses. The two oldest trusses are located at each end of the principal room and are particularly large in size and cross-section of the blades. The truss to the right of the principal room has an arch-braced collar, indicating the center of the original open hall, which has since been floored over. An inglenook fireplace backs onto this truss, featuring a massive bressumer beam supported by a carved heck post, although this post is now encased or replaced by a brick pier. The room also has an ovolo-moulded ceiling beam.

The third cruck truss is positioned at right angles to the others in the right crosswing. It has blades that are not significantly curved, a tie-beam at floor level, a collar, and wattle and daub infill, likely dating from the 16th century. This truss is visible from the floor to the ridge on one side. The survival of such an early cruck-framed structure is rare in the north-west of England, and the evolutionary development of this building is particularly noteworthy.