Gatehouse Approximately 10 Metres To North East Of Langley Hall Farmhouse

The gatehouse, approximately 10 metres north-east of Langley Hall Farmhouse, likely incorporates a core dating back to the 15th century, with substantial rebuilding in the 1600s. Constructed from a mix of materials, the ground floor is of squared and coursed grey sandstone to the south-west and south-east, with grey sandstone ashlar above. The north-east side and first floor to the south-east are timber framed with wattle and daub, lath and plaster, and red brick infill, partly rebuilt in red brick to the west, all covered by a stone slate roof. The building is three bays wide and two storeys high with an attic.

The south-west front features a chamfered string course and two dormers with coped parapeted gables and 2-light double-chamfered stone mullioned windows, now blocked with red brick. A central octagonal stone ridge stack is topped with coping and decorative cresting, while an external end stack to the left has a dressed grey sandstone lower part with a chamfered plinth and two star-plan brick shafts. Four windows are visible on the first floor, with 2- and 3-light double-chamfered stone mullioned windows, and a smaller one-light window. A large, probably 15th-century pointed archway, off-centre to the right, has a continuous double chamfer, with a boarded door inside the archway.

The north-east front showcases a carriageway off-centre to the left, with a chamfered and stopped wooden lintel, flanked by large stone buttresses with chamfered offsets. Two large gabled dormers are present, the left one containing a blocked 16th-century three-light stone mullioned window filled with red brick, and the right one displaying an exposed king post truss. The timber framing exhibits close studding with a middle rail and square panels with parallel diagonal struts forming lozenge patterns. There is possible medieval ground-floor square-panel framing to the left, featuring a cusped corner brace. The first floor above the carriageway was rebuilt in the 18th century with lighter framing and long straight braces. Part of the ground-floor framing has been removed to the right, creating a two-bay open-fronted cartshed, retaining some of the moulded surround of the former doorway on the left. A red brick and stone garderobe is situated in the angle of the north-west end stack, featuring a lean-to stone slate roof and a small chamfered square stone window with an ogee head. Inside the gable end to the south-east is an exposed collar and tie-beam truss with queen struts. The interior has not been inspected, but is likely to be of interest.

Historically, Langley Hall was an L-shaped building 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 19th century. The present Langley Hall Farmhouse, dating from circa 1850, stands to the south-west of the gatehouse. An embattled wall adjoining the gatehouse to the north was demolished in 1961.