The Old Tannery Including Rear Wing, Tannery Loft And Warehouse

THE OLD TANNERY INCLUDING REAR WING, TANNERY LOFT AND WAREHOUSE, HALLATON

A house with attached outbuilding range, including a former tannery loft and warehouse. The house dates from the 17th century with early 19th-century alterations, while the outbuildings are from the early to mid-19th century.

The house is constructed partly of coursed squared rubblestone with red brick to the first floor; the remaining sections are red brick with a weatherboarded first floor to the tannery loft. All buildings are of two storeys with slate roofs and feature end stacks to the house and ridge and end stacks to the outbuilding wing.

The plan is U-shaped, with the house facing the lane and a long wing projecting to the rear from the right-hand end. The loft and a further warehouse outbuilding extend from the wing to complete the U plan. The house front has two unhorned sash windows (3/6 over 6/6) and a central door. The right-hand gable end shows the original cottage stone gable and evidence of where the first floor was raised in the early 19th century, with a small window above. The left gable end is rendered and whitewashed, with a 2-light casement. The rear elevation has an 8/8 sash window above a part-glazed door and a multi-paned window.

The wing features similar multi-paned windows on both floors and a stable-type door. The loft's ground floor is open, and the first-floor front gable is now entirely 20th-century glazing, installed for its current use as a sculptor's studio. The two-storey warehouse, gable-facing to the left, has a 2-light casement window above garage doors. The wing has various windows facing the lane, while the rear elevation facing an adjoining garden is blank except for three louvred openings to the loft. These retain wide plank shuttering (now boarded behind), which originally provided ventilation for the tannery loft.

The interior of the house contains boxed bridging beams to the ground floor. The sitting room has a fireplace surround with overmantel, a simplified miniature version of those at nearby Hallaton Hall. The other ground-floor room contains an early 19th-century fireplace and cupboards. A straight-flight staircase and 4-panel doors are present throughout.

The outbuilding range contains a very unusual workshop with a fireplace. The ceiling comprises cast-iron beams supporting a floor of ceramic pierced bricks similar to those used in maltings, which also serves as the floor for the room above. This area was likely used for part of the tanning process, possibly for curing, fuming, or drying. The adjoining large tannery loft retains vertical operating posts and brackets on the inside, in addition to the louvred openings visible from outside.

This is a rare and highly significant survival of a village-scale tannery. Early 20th-century deeds describe the property as a fellmongers' establishment, a trade which involved preparing hides and fleeces. White's Directory of 1846 lists two fellmongers with the same surname (Almond) in Hallaton, though without giving an address. The complex retains two preparing areas as well as the warehouse and fellmonger's house. Two steeps survive, sunk in the garden.