New Hall

NEW HALL, EATON UNDER HEYWOOD

House. Dating from the 16th century with later alterations and mid-20th-century restoration. The original timber-framed structure is now encased in red brick on a stone rubble plinth to the front, with the timber frame partly exposed at the rear. The roof is plain tile, topped by a lateral brick ridge stack with 4 spurred shafts connected by an oversailing cap. The building follows an H-shaped plan.

Exterior: The main front elevation is 2-storey with 3 windows of casements. Projecting gables terminate each end, with casements at both storeys. The front entrance door is set in the left return side of the right-hand gable and is sheltered by a canopy formed by the extension of the gable-end roof pitch. The casements are 20th-century metal frames with square leaded lights.

The rear elevation features projecting brick gables at each end above a central timber-framed range. The right-hand bays display full-height close-studded timber framing with square panels set 2 high, and inset diagonal bracing at the upper storey over a close-studded lower storey. Three casements light this section. The left-hand gable-end has a single casement above a hipped tiled bay window, with square framing and inset diagonal bracing on the right return side at upper level. The right-hand gable-end features a casement at each storey and close studding on the left return side at upper storey level.

Interior: The upper level (formerly the Great Chamber) contains a wall painting of circa 1560, executed directly onto the timber-framed interior wall. It stretches across 4 plaster panels and encompasses supporting studs, rails and braces, measuring approximately 1.9 metres high by 2.1 metres wide. The work depicts a stag-hunt, showing a bearded huntsman spearing a stag held by hounds, with a house in the background and border decoration of foliage. The drawing is principally in black on a white ground with patches of red.

In the downstairs former Parlour is a room of panelling with chamfered cross beams to the ceiling. This panelling was moved here in the 20th century from the Great Chamber, where it had covered the hunting scene painting. Concealed behind the panelling are 6 panels of paintings, executed on earthen render with a limewash layer but without an intermediary lime plaster. They were designed to cover only the plaster in-fill. The upper panels contain figures of particular iconographical interest: Bay 1 shows three figures including a male in profile, a male in a ruff with bagpipe, and a male wearing a pike's helmet; Bay 2 depicts a woman with a Tudor rose and forget-me-not, a central woman with a lute or cittern, and a bearded man with hands on hips; Bay 4 shows a man ringing a white bell, a second man with an instrument possibly a viol, part of a bird and crouching monkey, and the head of a dog similar to those in the hunting scene. Below these are surviving bays of black and white decorative scheme in Italianate style, including a hare. In the upper floor north room is a fragment of painting on the top of a wooden post with stencilling and initials.

Historical Context: The H-plan represents a significant regional example of an early modern house type, fully floored with the Great Chamber above, incorporating a screens passage, service rooms to the north and parlour to the south. This represents a development from the 3-part medieval plan with its clearly defined solar, service ends and screen passage flanking an open hall. The floor in the central bay was removed and further changes made in the mid-20th century. The 17th-century panelling originally in the Great Chamber was relocated to the Parlour in the 20th century and later hinged to reveal the concealed paintings.

The building is listed at Grade II* for its particular special interest as a circa 1560 house of H-plan with original timber framing, a room of 17th-century panelling and three contemporary wall painting schemes of intricate iconographical interest.