The Old Hall

The Old Hall is a house, likely dating from the late 16th century, with substantial additions and alterations primarily from the late 19th and 20th centuries. It is timber framed, with a dressed sandstone plinth, plastered and brick infill, and clay tile roofs. A central clustered stack has been rebuilt in engineering brick.

The original design was cruciform, featuring projecting gabled wings, each of two framed bays. The house has two storeys and an attic. Jetties to the gables on both upper floors are supported by bulbous corbel brackets; those on the front of the second floor have painted carved decoration. There’s an inscribed bressumer on the front of the first floor. The timber framing exhibits close-studding on the ground and first floors with single cross-rails. Three- and four-light leaded casements, some from the early 19th century and others in imitation, are found in the gables. A ledged and nail-studded door, likely from the 17th century, is located on the left-hand side of the front wing, sheltered by an early 20th-century timber-framed lean-to porch in the angle between the front and right-hand wings. A late 19th-century plum brick range with a reconstructed conservatory and slender cast-iron columns is situated behind the right-hand wing, with a two-storeyed late 20th-century brick addition behind the rear gable. A reconstructed lean-to extension is in the angle between the rear and left-hand wings.

The interior reveals a partly exposed timber frame, with moulded and bevelled beams throughout, featuring ox-tongue, straight cut, and run-out stop chamfers. There are stone fireplaces on the ground floor, and C19 panelling with quatrefoils in the front room. Several 17th-century doors are present, and a reputed priest’s hole is on the first floor. A sandstone-walled cellar lies beneath the right-hand wing. The roof is a massive double-purlin construction with collar beams and S windbraces. An inscription, "16 WALLK K NAVE . WHAT LOOK EST AT 47 I B," is on the first floor bressumer of the front gable. It is believed this inscription may be a warning rather than relating to the house’s construction. Local tradition suggests connections to recusant families in the late 16th and 17th centuries, which may suggest the original cruciform plan had a symbolic significance.