Stock Hall

Stock Hall is a manor house originating in the mid-16th century, with extensions dating from the 16th, 17th, 18th and 20th centuries. It is timber-framed and plastered, roofed with handmade red clay tiles.

The building comprises a 2-bay hall block of 2 storeys with attic, aligned approximately east to west with a south aspect. To the west is a single 2-storey crosswing which was originally jettied at the front but is now underbuilt, with an original double chimney stack at the junction. The east crosswing was rebuilt in 2001. A square stair tower of late 16th-century date sits in the rear angle, with an external chimney stack of 16th-century date at the rear of the crosswing. Three rear extensions of 2 storeys form a distinctive north elevation of 3 joined gables dating from the early 17th century, now appearing as 4 gables following the 2001 reconstruction of the crosswing. A single-storey service wing to the north-west dates from the 18th century, with a 20th-century lean-to extension beyond. A 20th-century single-storey extension occupies the north-east angle, and a lean-to extension extends to the west of the crosswing, also 20th century.

The external doors and windows are 20th-century casements: a boarded door, 2 casement windows on the ground floor and 3 on the first floor. The plaster displays a lightly combed chevron design. One original scalloped bargeboard survives on the west side of the south gable; the other dates from the 19th century.

The interior contains exposed framing in places. The original floor of the hall block consists of a transverse beam, an axial beam, and transverse joists, all plain chamfered with step stops; seven joists on the north side are 20th-century replacements. The fireplace has a depressed 4-centred arch with chamfered brickwork jambs, originally plastered but now exposed, and features a cast iron fireback depicting General Fairfax, dated 1649.

The hall roof is of crown post construction, with a plain oblong-section central crown post. No braces remain, though mortices indicate it originally had 2 arched braces to the collar purlin and one side brace descending to the tiebeam. All collars are present, jointed to the rafters with bare-faced lap dovetails. Above each collar is an empty matrix in the rafter for a similar joint. The crosswing roof is of clasped purlin construction with curved wind braces, original and contemporary with the hall roof. An edge-halved and bridled scarf exists in the east wallplate. The roof is not smoke-blackened except for a section of 4 rafters to the north of the west crosswing, which may indicate the presence of a smoke bay. Original wattle and daub survives in the north gable, with original lime plaster on both sides flush with the studs.

In the ground floor of the stair tower is an original north window of 2 lights with an ovolo mullion in situ, rebated for leaded glass on the outside and weathered, though now enclosed by a later extension. The ground floor of the hall contains some original oak panelling alongside 20th-century reproduction. The ground floor of the west crosswing features a cut linenfold bressumer.

When the east crosswing was reconstructed in 2001, construction work exposed wall painting at the first-floor level facing east towards what was originally the solar. The painting had been on an external wall between the demolition of that wing (sometime before the 18th century) and its 2001 reconstruction. The surviving scheme comprises floral motifs and vine scroll in red, blue and yellow applied on limewash to the render between the studs and curved braces.

The house sits within a double moat system thought to date from the 12th century or earlier. Farm buildings to the east are not of comparable age.