Charley Hall And Attached Outbuilding Range And Walls

Charley Hall is a country house with attached outbuildings and surrounding walls, dating to the 15th and 16th centuries, or possibly earlier monastic origins, and significantly altered and extended in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. The building is constructed of granite and slate rubble, with some stucco and a small section of red brick, featuring stone and brick dressings. The roofs are slate with stone and brick ridge and end stacks.

The building has a complex, irregular plan, incorporating an L-shaped range likely of monastic origin, with substantial additions to the northeast. The main facade is mainly two storeys and attic, with a large, neo-Tudor range, dated 1890, on the far left. This section has a two-window range of stone mullion and transom windows with casements in the timber-framed attic above. A projecting gabled porch has double doors within a round-headed archway. A single-storey former ballroom extension to the right, dated 1904, incorporates a large bay window. Behind this are ranges with two- and three-light casements and dormers, including part of a 16th-century mullioned window. One range has thick walls and is probably of medieval origin. Adjacent to this is a range, raised in the late 19th century, with casements and the outline of a large blocked window. A brick range stands to the far right. A further outbuilding wing extends behind these ranges, featuring various stable doors and windows. The inner wall incorporates a two-centred arched doorway and blocked remains of mullioned windows. To the rear of the main ranges are further mullion and transom windows in the 1890 range, and glazing-bar sashes and casements in the older ranges. A single-storey section extends to the rear, continuing as a high rubble stone wall that bends near the outbuilding wing. Another wall, featuring a gateway in Gibbs style, incorporates dressed stone reclaimed from early mullion windows.

Inside the main part of the house, the central range has a curved principal roof, likely dating to the 16th century. Beneath this is a blocked four-centred arch on the ground floor, corresponding on the opposite side of the range with the 16th-century window. The 1890 range contains margin stained glass, contemporary fireplaces, and fittings. The outbuilding range has massive beams and joists in one section, and one cruck truss.

Charley Hall incorporates the remains of an Augustinian priory founded in the mid-12th century and amalgamated with that at nearby Ulverscroft in 1465. Significant fragments of walling are likely to survive from periods preceding the priory’s dissolution in 1539.