Wynters Armourie

Wynters Armourie is a timber-framed hall house of 13th or 14th century date, substantially altered in the 16th century and restored around 1935. The building stands as a moated site and is plastered with the timber frame now wholly exposed, roofed with handmade red clay tiles.

The main hall runs approximately east-west across three bays, with an entrance bay and incomplete spere truss at the east end facing south. A parlour or solar crosswing of two bays projects at the west end, while a two-bay crosswing extends from the east end dating to the 16th century. A service wing runs to the rear opposite an axial chimney stack inserted in the middle bay during the 16th century. The rear wing has a 20th century chimney stack at its end and a 20th century single-storey extension with hipped roof beyond. A 16th-century stair tower with lean-to roof stands at the rear of the hall and parlour partition, with a 20th-century single-storey lean-to extension between this and the service wing. A small glazed porch dates to the 20th century at the east end. The building rises to two storeys with attics.

The south elevation features a central 20th-century door in a tiled gabled porch at ground floor level, with four 20th-century casement windows. The first floor has three 20th-century casement windows and another in a gabled dormer over the east bay of the hall. A facade gable rises over the west bay of the hall. Three small 20th-century casement windows occupy the attic floor, one in each gable. The axial chimney stack displays grouped diagonal shafts rendered in cement.

The hall exhibits unusually constructed timber framing, with only one close parallel known at the Old Parsonage in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. It represents an intermediate development between the true aisled hall and derivatives such as the raised aisled hall and base cruck hall. Square-set arcade plates are supported at the ends by arcade posts with arched braces, but the main truss omits these posts. A tiebeam with arched braces sits below the heads of the posts. Principal rafters rise from the post heads to a steeply cranked collar, with richly moulded arch braces supporting it. The arcade plates penetrate the tops of these principals, with arched wind braces in the roof pitch. Evidence remains of a former crownpost on the collar, and some common rafters survive in position, all roof timbers heavily smoke-blackened. Where components have been removed or severed for later alterations, evidence for their former presence remains clear. The roof of the west bay has been rebuilt to accommodate facade gables front and back and an attic floor; the eastern part shows charring from 20th-century fire damage. Part of a north doorhead of 4-centred curvature survives.

The inserted floor in the west bay of the hall divides laterally into two distinct areas. The joists of the east part are plain-chamfered with concave-plus-bar stops, while those of the west part are unchamfered. This indicates that originally only the western section was plastered to the soffits, representing the more fashionable 16th-century treatment reserved for the 'high end' above the inner household sitting at table. The winding stair to the upper floor remains largely original with some 20th-century repair.

The west crosswing contains a central tiebeam with chamfered arch braces and an inserted tiebeam with queen struts in the north bay. The east crosswing has cranked tension braces in the rear wall and arch braces in the side walls. Many original floor boards remain in situ. The rear wing features an open queen strut roof. One 17th-century wrought iron casement with 20th-century leaded glass survives in the west wall at first floor level.

Old photographs demonstrate that the house was lathed and plastered externally before the restoration of around 1935. A comprehensive set of photographs is held at the National Monuments Record. The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England recorded this property as number 8 in Magdalen Layer.