Remains of Knaptoft Hall

Knaptoft Hall is a 16th-century manor house built for the Turpin family, who acquired the manor in the late 15th century. The remains of the hall were incorporated into a farmhouse and range of farm storage buildings around 1843.

Materials and Plan

The hall is built of red brick with stone quoins and mullions and a slate roof. The T-plan farm storage buildings which incorporate the remains of the hall comprise a two-storey building running north to south with a single storey to the north, and an east to west range incorporating the porch of the 16th-century manor house. The latter is two-storey and abuts the east elevation of the north to south wing approximately halfway along its length.

East-West Wing

The east to west wing is divided into three discrete areas, none of which are accessible from the others. The northern elevation is dominated by the former porch of the Tudor manor house with its moulded stone arch, lugged architrave and a wooden lintel above. A mono-pitch slate roof rises from a single storey on the northern elevation to two storeys on the southern elevation to accommodate a doorway (now boarded-up) with stone sill at first-floor level, potentially an original internal opening. The eastern elevation contains a three-light hopper window with a concrete lintel and sill.

Beyond the porch to the west, on the north elevation, a single square hopper window cuts through the brick coping and sits adjacent to an entrance set back from the face of the wall, forming a small covered lobby with access into the adjacent north to south aligned wing. This section supports a double-pitched, although asymmetrical, slate roof which again rises from a single storey on the north elevation to two storeys on the south elevation.

The southern elevation of the wing consists mainly of bricks laid in English bond, with two vertical dressed stone blocks representing the quoins either side of an original window opening, now blocked externally with reused Tudor brickwork. The details of the fenestration are still visible internally when accessed through the wooden door on the southern elevation. This wall is primarily of 16th-century date.

North-South Wing

The north-south wing is also divided into three discrete blocks, none of which are accessible from another. The southern and central blocks are of two storeys but the later northern extension is a single storey. The southern end of the eastern elevation is laid in English garden wall bond and appears to have been rendered at some point but little remains now. Access to the ground floor is through a double wooden door opening with a wooden lintel above, whilst another wooden door at first floor level, served by an external brick stairway, gives access to the first floor. The south face of the stairs has a decorative brick quarter arch over a small rectangular opening covered with wooden slats. At the southern end of this elevation two circular bosses suggest steel tie rods run through the building.

North of the east-west range, the eastern elevation is laid primarily in Flemish-bond brickwork, with stretcher-bond patches where repaired and rebuilt. There is a single doorway on the ground floor with a wooden stable door and a brick segmental arch. At first-floor level there are two windows both with wooden frames and glazing bars.

Attached to the north is a single-storey extension built of similar brickwork with brick coping along the eaves. The east elevation has two square window openings with vertical wooden slats and a central stable door with a brick segmental arch. The north elevation displays a horizontal tie beam with a wooden lintel directly below, over a probably blocked opening.

The west-facing elevation of the north-south wing incorporates a single small square window below a segmental arch adjacent to which is the vertical joint between the southern and central blocks of this wing. Stone mouldings above a brick plinth are evident along the southern section of the west elevation and around the southern elevation of this wing, and large rusticated stone quoins survive on the south-west corner. There is a large, partially bricked-up two-light window with large moulded stone mullions and transoms in the west elevation. This has a single hung casement in the top left-hand corner of the window. The two small openings to the upper right have iron bars fitted, which may be original features as the other openings exhibit evidence of bars that have been removed. Much of this elevation is 16th-century in date.

The southern gable has a largely bricked-up window opening with stone mullions and transoms; only a small single pane in the top left corner remains glazed. A vertical join is visible immediately to the east of the window, from roof to ground level, east of which there is no plinth. This defines the extent of the surviving Tudor fabric, with the remainder of this elevation and the east elevation being a later addition. Archaeological investigations in advance of a planning application have revealed the continuation of the Tudor wall footings beneath the farmyard and provide supporting evidence of the original plan form of the Tudor hall.

Interior of East-West Wing

The former porch has a brick floor which, judging from the bricks, is not original. A wooden bench runs along both the east and west walls. Iron hinge pins and an iron latch survive on the south elevation, suggesting a door was fitted to the exterior of the stone arch.

The interior of the remainder of the wing is divided into two discrete areas; the wooden door on the southern elevation leads into a small room which now houses a boiler or water tank. At first-floor level a blocked mullioned and transom window survives in its entirety, all but the glazing. This window is evident on Nichols' illustration of 1792, and what is now inside the farm storage building would have been part of the northern external elevation of the Tudor hall.

In the western end of this wing a doorway in the northern elevation leads to a small lobby containing an electric engine with a drive shaft extending through an opening in the north elevation. Brickwork directly below the window suggests that it was originally an open bay to the north that has since been blocked.

Interior of North-South Wing

On the ground floor of the southern end of this wing, two large beams run east to west supporting the exposed joists of the first floor; both beams display numerous notches indicating they have been reused. In the north-west corner of the room is a small brick fireplace with a square flue extending to the first floor, where it is replaced with a circular brick flue which appears to terminate at the roof line as no stack is visible above. This is a later addition to the original Tudor structure. Adjacent to the fireplace, in the north elevation, is a slightly recessed blocked opening; this is partially rendered and obscured but appears to have a moulded stone frame and probably represents an in-situ blocked doorway. Another bricked-up window with a wooden lintel is situated directly north of the current doorway. There is a stone mullion visible beneath the render on the left side of the window, and this again may represent an original feature.

On the first floor a wooden tie beam runs east to west, with two supporting vertical posts. Notches in these posts and beams suggest they have been reused. These, together with a surviving partition wall that extends north along the east side of the building, probably form the frame of a former partition wall enclosing the north-west portion of the room. Over the south window an ornamental segmental arch is visible beneath the render. This is not visible externally and is probably a later addition. Much of the roof structure is concealed beneath a ceiling of rendered wooden laths, although the visible elements indicate that the roof structure does not relate to the Tudor phases of the building.

In the central block of the north to south wing a brick buttress with bullnose bricks on the west elevation provides support for the main beam on which the floor joists of the first floor rest. Brick partitions divide the ground floor space to form an access lobby to the first floor and another room to the south of the staircase. There is a wooden lintel in the south elevation that corresponds to the bricked-up opening visible in the opposing wall. On the first floor there is a chimney breast in the north wall with an off-centre fireplace, cast iron grate, wooden surround and mantelpiece.

The single-storey stable on the northern end of this wing has an original brick floor, with a feeding trough and hay rack on the southern elevation.