The Hall

The Hall is a country house built around 1886 in a Queen Anne revival style for William Montague Tharp. It occupies the site of an earlier 17th-century mansion, incorporating fabric from two later 17th and 18th-century houses. The architect is unknown. Remnants of the original house are found in the basement foundations, and much of the great hall’s fabric is believed to be within the north-east wing.

Lord Orford rebuilt part of the house, which was detailed in a description by Celia Fiennes following her visit in 1698. A service wing and stable block, of the same date, sit to the south-west. Elements of a hunting lodge built around 1795 by John Tharp may form the rear wall of the main range, potentially incorporating the remains of a mid-17th-century long gallery described by John Evelyn in 1669.

The south-east garden facade is of red brick with limestone dressings and slate roofs. The symmetrical design features two tall paired stacks with moulded stone strings, as well as three rear stacks. Shaped attic gables with triangular pediments and stone finials crown the building, with the central gable being smaller. A deep egg and dart moulded stone cornice is present. There are two attic windows and three first-floor casement windows with transoms, set within flat gauged brick arches with slender stone key blocks. Parapetted bay windows with matching casements flank the garden entrance. Wings to the right and left, built around 1930 by Paul Phipps, echo the design of the main house. Other alterations include remodelling of the courtyard entrance.

The rear elevation features two wings, each of seven bays. The south-west wing, two storeys high with attic space, has a rebuilt parapet and a north-west wall reconstructed with 19th-century casement windows in original openings, segmental red gauged brick arches, a band between floors, and stone quoins to the first four bays. A ridge stack is evident. The north-east wing, possibly reduced in height, includes an added 19th-century bay to the north-west with replacement windows. The north-east facade is cased in 19th-century red brick and features two pedimented stacks.

Interior features include surviving panelling with light bolection moulding, eight-panelled doors, finely carved details within the 19th-century hall chimney piece, turned balusters, and a balustrade in the entrance hall.