Boyton Hall Farmhouse

TL 73 SW FINCHINGFIELD TOPPESFIELD ROAD (south side)

4/92 Boyton Hall Farmhouse 2.5.53 (Formerly listed as Boyton Hall) GV II

House. Mid-C16, altered c.1600 and in C20. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. 5 bays facing NW, with axial stack at left end, and 3-bay crosswing beyond, extending to rear, c.1600. Stair tower in rear angle, c.1600. Single-storey extension to left of crosswing, C20. Main range of 2 storeys, crosswing of 2 storeys and attic. 3-window range of C20 casements. Door in gabled porch, C20. 6 octagonal shafts on main stack, rebuilt at top (serving 4 hearths). Original bargeboards on left gable, with carved guilloche design. The interior has jowled posts, heavy studding with curved braces trenched to the inside, the original main doorway with 4-centred head, blocked, chamfered beams, chamfered joists of horizontal section with step stops. The ground-floor hearth facing to right has ovolo-moulded brickwork above the mantel beam, originally plastered but now stripped, a trace of a former painted text in C16 lettering, and some new brickwork. At first floor there are 2 hearths with depressed arches and recessed spandrels, one still with the original moulded plaster, the other stripped, and a moulded 4-plank door, all c.1600. The stair tower retains the original stair, with 2 octagonal newels and square finials, moulded rails, and moulded straight balusters of unusual type. The roof of the main range is of crownpost construction with thin axial braces, the crosswing of clasped purlin construction. This house was built from the outset in 2 storeys but of medieval plan, with a wide screens passage, 2-bay 'hall' and 2-bay service end, but has developed in an untypical way in that a stack has been inserted at the high end, forming a lobby-entrance, and the 3-bay crosswing has replaced the original parlour/solar bay. Moated site. RCHM 6.

Listing NGR: TL7069533989