Deershed In Park At Heath Hall

The deershed in the park at Heath Hall is a Grade II* listed building dating from the early to mid-18th century. It was likely designed by John Carr for John Smyth of Heath Hall. The building features an ashlar facade with punch-dressed sides and rear, topped by a stone slate roof, and is constructed in a classical style.

It is two storeys high with a symmetrical five-bay facade. The facade is accentuated by raised vermiculated quoins and a plinth. The central three bays project forward, featuring quoined angles and a pedimented gable. Each bay contains a semicircular-arched doorway, with the arches filled with dressed stone and a raised surround. The outer edges of the arches are moulded, and there is an impost band with false triple vermiculated keystones. Two of the doorways were restored to their original design around 1970. The second and fourth bays have square-headed doorways that are blocked, each with triple keystones.

On the first floor, there is a central blind Diocletian window with a triple keystone, flanked by two blind windows. The outer bays have windows with lintels and projecting sills, and there is a casement-moulded cornice. The tympanum features a circular blind hole with a raised surround. The roof is hipped.

Inside, the rear wall has a feeding rack with rails that are morticed and pegged into five posts, along with circular loose-fitting bars. In the right rear corner, there is a half-turn stone stair leading to the hayloft, which has a lime-ash floor laid on oak square-sectioned floor joists, supported by five stop-chamfered spine beams. The roof structure is a five-bay fish-bone king-post design.