Gravenhunger Hall And Adjoining Outbuilding

Gravenhunger Hall is a house dating from the mid-17th century, with substantial rebuilding in the late 18th century and extensions in the late 18th or early 19th century. Further alterations were made in the late 19th century. The house is constructed of rendered timber frame, with sections rebuilt or refaced in red brick. It has plain tile roofs, with a hipped design over the front block. The original plan was an L-shape with an additional block built around 1800 to the front. It is two storeys high, with the original rear section also having a gable-lit attic. A plinth with a moulded brick top, a plat band, and deep eaves are visible externally. Two integral brick stacks are located at the rear. The front has five bays with four-pane sash windows, painted stone cills, and lintels. A late 19th-century half-glazed door sits centrally, above a stained glass overlight and stone lintel. A blocked first-floor window and late 19th-century canted bays are present on the left-hand return front. The rear range features a north gable with a dentil brick band to the eaves, a central brick ridge stack, a small integral lateral brick stack to the rear, and two- and three-light segmental-headed wooden casements. A late 19th-century gabled porch is also present. There are late 19th-century or early 20th-century square bays positioned between each block to the north. An adjoining outbuilding, dating from the 17th century, is located at a right angle to the rear. This has been largely rebuilt in 19th-century brick, and retains a plain tile roof. One gable end reveals a 17th-century collar and tie-beam truss with queen struts and V-struts, along with a brick ridge stack. Internally, the rear range features surviving timber framing, including closely-spaced studs, a middle rail, and main frame posts. There are pairs of ovolo-moulded ceiling beams in the ground-floor rooms flanking a stack. A 17th-century oak winder stair is present, along with chamfered beams in the rear bedrooms. A large open fireplace has an early 19th-century surround with a moulded cornice, while another room has a late 19th-century neo-Jacobean chimney-piece. 18th-century oak six-panelled doors are found throughout. The entrance hall has a modillion plaster cornice and a central ceiling rose. A ground-floor room on the left-hand side has bolection-moulded panelling, likely restored in the late 17th century, with a dado rail and moulded cornice. It incorporates a 19th-century fireplace with Minton tiles, panelled doors, and shutters. The right-hand ground-floor front room has a moulded and enriched plaster cornice with a vine trail, a central plaster ceiling rose, and a mid-to-late 19th-century marble fireplace with a picture rail. An early 18th-century staircase has been reordered; it features three flights around a rectangular well, with an open string, cut brackets, barleysugar balusters (three per tread), a ramped moulded handrail, and newel posts with chamfered corners and broach tops. A 17th- or 18th-century plank and muntin door leads to the attic.