The Hall House

The Hall House is a timber-framed hall house, dating from about 1550, with alterations and extensions in the early 17th century and a late 20th-century restoration. Constructed with timber framing and painted brick infill on a brick base, it has plain tiled roofs. The building originally comprised one-and-a-half framed bays aligned east/west, with the eastern half-bay being lower than the western bay. A large sandstone and brick chimney is situated at the junction of the bays, topped with a brick ridge stack.

On the west bay, the timber framing features two rows of square panels from the sill to the wall-plate, with short straight upper corner braces. It contains a collar and tie-beam truss with two struts at its west end. The eastern half-bay has two rows of rectangular panels and a collar and tie-beam truss with four struts beneath the collar and one above it. The north elevation showcases a 2-light casement window with leaded lights in the west bay, and a ledged and battened door to the right. A similar door is present in the east half-bay. An attic light is found in the west gable end.

Inside, the building formerly contained a large fireplace with a chamfered mantel beam, originally with a timber-framed smoke hood which was later replaced with two-inch brickwork in the 17th century. A floor was inserted during the 17th century, but it has subsequently been removed. It is believed that the house initially consisted of only the western bay, with the eastern half-bay added during the 17th century when it became part of the adjacent Lower Grinsty Farmhouse. The truss in the east bay resembles that on the north gable end of the farmhouse, lending support to this theory.

A 1617 inventory suggests that "the hall-house" served as the dining hall for the farmhouse and the addition as a parlour. However, it’s also possible that the "hall-house" refers to a hall within the main farmhouse building, subsequently becoming a separately tenanted dwelling with an attached workshop or animal shed. The Hall House and the farmhouse together form a remarkably well-preserved domestic group.