Old Hall

OLD HALL

A farmhouse known as Old Hall, dating from the 15th century, with alterations and extensions from the 16th, 19th and early 20th centuries, located on Church Road in Boreham.

The house is constructed with a rendered timber frame of the 15th-century phase, part-rendered, with a red brick 19th-century addition featuring yellow stock banding and diaper patterns. Both roofs are covered with clay peg tiles.

The plan comprises a two-storey 15th-century phase with a hall aligned approximately north-south, a cross wing to the north, and a projecting east-west three-storey 19th-century range at the south.

The façade of the two-storey 15th-century building has an entrance door beneath a gablet to the left and early 19th-century tripartite vertical sliding sash windows without glazing bars to the right. At first-floor level are late 19th-century tripartite sash and casement windows. The gable roof of the hall has an off-centre, rebuilt diagonal chimney. At the north end is an east-facing gable in the position of the cross wing, which has a hipped roof with a gablet to the rear. Both the hall and cross wing originally had jetties, which have been underbuilt. The second and third storeys of the 19th-century range are rendered with decorative applied timber. The principal elevation of this range faces south, with mostly replacement windows and altered ground-floor openings, one of which is a 19th-century tripartite window with glazing bars.

Much of the 15th-century hall and cross wing frame survives with good quality and substantial scantling, though there has been remodelling at the south end of the hall where it meets the 19th-century range. The principal room of the ground floor contains a large inglenook fireplace with a pegged, chamfered bresummer. Above, the midrail has roll-moulding with stops. The bridging beams have double ogee moulding with run-out stops, and the floor joists are said to be similarly treated. Although the frame is replaced at the front, portions of the sole plate, wall posts and midrails remain exposed. In the rear of the cross wing, close stud wall frames, wall posts and bridging beams are visible. The original position of the stairs can be discerned in the ceiling.

On the first floor, close studding, wattle and daub panelling and a diamond mullion window are exposed in the rear wall frame. Slightly cambered tie beams, arched braces and chamfered and stopped storey posts are exposed in the cross wing and main hall. The roof structure of both the hall and cross wing are said to be of crown post construction, with down bracing from the crown post to the tie beam remaining visible in the hall roof. A two-panel door with 'HL' hinges and a hob-grate in the main bedroom are of 18th-century date.

The interior of the 19th-century range was not inspected.

Old Hall Farm lies on the south-eastern outskirts of the historic village of Boreham. The 15th-century and later farmhouse probably occupies the site of Calwattes or Culverts, a capital messuage documented from the 13th century. The existing farm buildings date from the 17th century and later, though they may occupy the site of the medieval steading.

The earliest configuration comprised a jettied, timber-framed hall with a cross wing at the north end. The hall was ceiled over, probably in the 16th or 17th century, and the house was altered considerably in the 19th century when a three-storey range was added to the south end and the front wall of the hall and rear wall of the cross wing were encased. In the mid-20th century some openings in the 19th-century range were altered and some windows have been replaced.