Moat House

Moat House is an early 16th-century hall house with a west crosswing, located on the north side of St Ives Road in Abbots Ripton. The house underwent remodelling in the late 18th century, which included alterations to the hall range and the addition of a 20th-century section on the north side. It is constructed with a timber frame, roughcast render, and painted gault brick for the late 18th-century parts, topped with plain tiled roofs and a ridge stack on the main range.

The garden front of the main range features two modern casement windows on the first floor, set under segmental arches, and two ground floor canted bays with small pane hung sashes flanking the lobby entry doorway. The ground floor is likely timber framed, while the roof was raised in the late 18th century, resulting in a brick first floor. A medieval grotesque gargoyle is reset in the center of the first floor garden front.

The west crosswing is two storeys high and has four modern casements on the south end. It features a projecting 16th-century stack made of brick and tile, with limestone quoins. Inside, the west crosswing showcases an exposed ceiling frame of joists similar to those found in Chestnut Cottage, with heavy scantling laid flat and a chamfered main beam across two bays. The original staircase leading to the first floor has a balustrade of 18th-century column-on-vase type, with some inserted stick balusters. There is also some reset early 17th-century run-through panelling in the staircase wall.

On the first floor, the partition walls from the 16th century remain intact, featuring braced tie beams and jowled heads on the posts. Among the 18th-century features is a corner cupboard with raised and fielded panelling. An inglenook in the main range contains some reset early 17th-century panelling, flanked by fluted composite pilasters carved with swags. The house is situated on a moated site.