The Moot Hall is a Grade II* listed building in the Braintree local planning authority area, England. First listed on 7 August 1952. A Renaissance Market hall.
The Moot Hall
- WRENN ID
- empty-mullion-wren
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Braintree
- Constituency
- Braintree MP: Sir James Cleverly (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 7 August 1952
- Type
- Market hall
- Period
- Renaissance
- Address
- The Moot Hall, Church Street, Steeple Bumpstead
- OS grid reference
- TL 680 410
- Coordinates
- 52.04241, 0.44847
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Moot Hall, also known as The Old School House, is a market hall dating from the late 16th century. It underwent alterations in the 18th century and was restored in 1890 and again in 1923. The building is timber framed and plastered, featuring exposed framing and a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. It has a square plan consisting of two bays, with jetties on the northeast and southwest sides, an external chimney stack on the southeast side, and a stair tower on the northwest side. The building is two storeys high.
On the northeast elevation, there is a central four-panel door, flanked by two 20th-century metal casement windows on the ground floor and one on the first floor. The jetty has exposed joists supported by two original scrolled brackets. Above, the close studding is exposed and features reproduction arched braces. The roof is hipped.
The southwest elevation has a base wall made of red brick approximately one metre high, above which are five blocked 'shop' windows with four-centred arched heads, most of which have been restored, with the westernmost being entirely a reproduction. Above this, the close studding is again exposed with reproduction arched braces. The original brick chimney on the southeast side has an arched recess at the base with a moulded label.
Inside, the ground floor features a plain-chamfered axial beam with lamb's tongue stops, and exposed joists that were originally plastered to the soffits, along with 18th-century fielded pine panelling. The ground floor was originally mostly unwalled, possibly accommodating four stalls on the southwest side, but it was enclosed for use as a school in the 18th century. The first floor has jowled posts, angle ties for the hip rafters, and crossed beams connecting the mid-wall posts, with rafters boarded to the soffits. The only hearth was originally located on this floor. The stair tower was initially an open structure with arched braces that remain in place, but the restoration added false jetties on two sides and a false shop window to the southwest.
Local climate
The Moot Hall sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 90% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 79% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 54% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
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- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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