Gatehouse Approximately 10 Metres To North East Of Langley Hall Farmhouse

RUCKLEY AND LANGLEY C.P. LANGLEY SJ 50 SW 6/153 Gatehouse approximately 13.6.58 10 metres to north-east of Langley Hall Farmhouse (Formerly listed as Langley Gatehouse) - II*

Gatehouse. Circa 1600 with probably C15 core. Squared and coursed grey sandstone ground floor to south-west with grey sandstone ashlar above, roughly squared and coursed grey sandstone ground floor to south-east, and timber framed to north-east and first floor to south- east with wattle and daub, lath and plaster, and red brick infill, partly rebuilt in red brick to west; stone slate roof. 3 framed bays. 2 storeys and attic. South-west front: chamfered string course and 2 full dormers with coped parapeted gables and 2-light double-chamfered stone mullioned windows, blocked with red brick; central octagonal stone ridge stack with coping and decorative cresting, and external end stack to left has dressed grey sandstone lower part with chamfered plinth and 2 star-plan brick shafts. 4-windows to first floor; 2- and 3-light double-chamfered stone mullioned windows, and small one- light window between first and second from left; large ground-floor, probably C15 pointed archway off-centre to right with continuous double chamfer; boarded door inside archway to right. North-east front: carriageway off-centre to left with chamfered and stopped wooden lintel and flanking large stone buttresses with chamfered offsets; 2 large gabled dormers with moulded barge boards, that to left has C16 three- light stone mullioned window, blocked with red brick,and that to right with exposed king post truss. Framing: close studding with middle rail; square panels with parallel diagonal struts forming lozenge patterns; possibly medieval ground-floor square-panel framing to left with cusped corner brace; first-floor above carriageway rebuilt in C18 with light framing and long straight braces. Ground-floor framing partly removed to right to form 2-bay open-fronted cartshed with part of moulded surround to former doorway at left. First-floor red brick and stone gardrobe in angle of north-west end stack with lean-to stone slate roof and small chamfered square stone window with ogee head. Exposed collar and tie-beam truss with queen struts in gable end to south-east. Interior not inspected but likely to be of interest. Langley Hall was an L-shaped building standing within a moated enclosure to the north-east of the gatehouse. It was a farmhouse by 1717, still standing in 1846 but demolished in the late C19. The present Langley Hall Farmhouse (not included in this list) dates from c.1850 and stands to the south-west-of the gatehouse. There is said to have been an embattled wall adjoining the gatehouse to the north, demolished in 1961. V.C.H., Vol. VIII, p. 143; B.O.E., p. 163, H.E. Forrest F.L.S., Some Old Shropshire Houses and their Owners, 1924, p p. 176-9; Salop Records Office, 1846 tithe map (3973/T/2).

Listing NGR: SJ5399900202