4, Walseker Lane

This is a late medieval core farmhouse, largely encased in 17th and 18th century fabric, and subsequently altered. The construction is of squared and rubble sandstone with a pantile roof. It is two storeys high, with a 1:4 bay arrangement; the left bay is lower and features a rear outshut. The four-bay range on the left represents the original timber-framed house. Large quoins are visible in the sandstone rubblework of the first bay, and the eaves are low. The left part of the four-bay range has a partly-glazed door flanked by casement windows on each floor; the positions of former wall posts are indicated by breaks in the masonry. The right part of the range is now used as an outhouse, with two doorways flanking a slatted casement window; a loft hatch is situated above the right-hand door. The roof is hipped at the right end, with a brick end stack at the junction of the roofs and a brick ridge stack on the right side.

Inside the timber-framed section, the left-end bay retains 17th-century axial ceiling beams, with both front and rear wall posts surviving on the right. The adjacent bay has a front wall post, with all others removed. The roof, of crown-post form, is of particular interest. It features a decorated open truss above what was formerly a central, two-bay open hall of unequal size. This truss has a double-chamfered tie-beam soffit with an outer chamfer running continuously down the surviving front wall post, alongside a broach-stop-chamfered crown post with curved braces extending down to the tie and up to the collar; curved braces also reach to the collar purlin. An adjacent closed truss on the right retains some curved-strut infill. Embedded trusses survive over the present house part, while only the tie beam remains at the right end of the range.

Historical records do not document a manor at Woodall, although the name appears in medieval documents, such as a 1321 grant given by William Son of Adam de Wodehall. Field names like 'Hall Leys' and 'Hall Ings', shown on the 1844 tithe map, suggest the house likely held manorial status. The survival of a late medieval crown-post roof, especially in a rural location, is of significant regional importance. A full survey report is filed separately.