The Ditches Hall

The Ditches Hall is a farmhouse, now a house, dating from 1612, with substantial additions and alterations primarily from the early 20th century. It is timber framed with plaster infill, built on a sandstone and brick plinth, and has a machine tile roof. The building follows a baffle-entry plan, comprising five framed bays with a central two-story porch. A short range projects at a right angle to the rear on the right-hand side, while the first floor of this range and prominent brick additions to the rear date to the early 20th century.

The house is two stories high with a gable-lit attic. The timber framing features close studding with long, straight tension braces and middle rails for both the ground and first floors. A continuous jetty with a moulded bressumer runs along the first floor, and a jetty with herringbone decoration and carved corner brackets exists at the right gable end. A later timber frame, dating from the late 19th/early 20th century, is present at the left gable end without a jetty. The windows are arranged in a 1:1:1 pattern. Original five-light chamfered mullioned and transomed casements with leaded lights and moulded cills are found on the ground floor and first floor of the right gable end and porch. The outer lights of the porch are now infilled. Several three-light mullioned and transomed windows from the 19th century are on the first floor on the front, retaining 17th-century cills. Smaller two-light mullion windows are located immediately to the left and right of the porch on the first floor, with the latter now infilled. The porch features chamfered mullions on its sides and fleur-de-lys decoration above a moulded bressumer at the apex. The inner door is nail-studded plank and muntin, with a long fleur-de-lys pointed strap hinge and the date "1612" on the door handle. A central axial red brick ridge stack has paired and rebated shafts with engineering brick capping.

A cellar is situated beneath the rear range. The ground floor contains two large rooms with a lobby in front of the stack. Inside, there are deep-chamfered ceiling beams and heavy joists with dragon beams supporting the jetty to the corners. Rectangular oak panelling extends throughout, including to inset wall cupboards. The left ground-floor room has a stone fireplace with a moulded arch, a painted armorial shield, and a moulded overmantel. A similar fireplace in the right ground-floor room has an early 20th-century brick fireplace inserted. The main room in the 20th-century additions has reused chamfered ceiling beams and a stone fireplace with carved consoles. A staircase in the rear projection is early 20th century in style. The first floor also has rectangular panelling throughout with a fluted frieze and lozenge-shaped patterns, including on the wall between the two left rooms and the partition between the right room and a small room in the rear right corner. Chamfered ceiling beams are exposed to the original back wall. There are stone fireplaces with chamfered edges to square-headed arches and brick backs. Plank and muntin and panelled doors are present throughout both floors. The double-purlin roof comprises collar and tie beam trusses with raking struts from the tie beams and straight windbraces. The stack bears a plaster inscription recording its repair in 1822.