Lophams Hall

Lophams Hall is a manor house dating back to the 15th century, with significant additions and alterations in the 16th and 17th centuries. The house is timber framed with rendered exterior and tiled roofs. A red brick side stack with offsets is visible on the north wall, and another projecting red brick English bond stack with some burnt brick and tumbling offsets is located on the south gable end. The building has an irregular plan. The north range represents the original 15th-century manor house, while the south range was constructed around 1582, likely replacing the original open hall, and a south-west kitchen wing was added later. The house is two stories high and features modern casement windows. The principal doorway is in the west gable end.

Inside the north range, a two-bay solar or parlour wing retains some exposed timber framing including main posts and tie beams. The framing is of substantial scantling with plain, deep chamfers and arch bracing to the tie beam of the central truss. The ground floor ceiling is not exposed, but photographic evidence and the presence of a contemporary moulded middle rail suggests it has always been floored. A later hearth is visible on the ground floor north wall, and the chimneys and fireplaces may have been added later in the 16th century. Peg holes in the middle rail indicate where framing was replaced by brickwork around the stack. At first floor, a fine ceiling dating from around 1582 has been inserted into the 15th-century frame; it features ogee moulded main beams with stops carved with roses and one with an elephant. The roof over this wing has been rebuilt, but remaining elements on the gable ends suggest it was originally of clasped side purlin construction. The south wing has two bays; the ground floor room features ogee moulded main beams to a quartered ceiling. A clunch hearth with similar ogee moulding to the ceiling in the north wing’s first floor is present, and the fireplace has been reset from the first floor. Contemporary wall paintings in this room and the room above have since been removed. A round-headed niche with a key block and shaped shelving from the early 18th century is incorporated into one side of the fireplace. The roof in this wing is wind braced. A lower range to the south-west, dating from the 17th century, includes an inglenook hearth. The house is situated on a moated site.