Bourchier's Hall

Bourchier’s Hall is a house dating from the early 14th century, with alterations made in the 16th and 18th centuries. It is timber-framed and mainly plastered, with exposed timber framing on the north elevation. Part of the ground floor is clad in red brick in a Flemish bond pattern, and the roof is covered with handmade red clay tiles.

The original layout consisted of a three-bay aisled hall range aligned north-south. The west aisle remains, while the east aisle has been removed, leaving an internal stack at the south end. A four-bay crosswing sits to the north, with internal stacks at the junction of the hall and crosswing, and at the eastern end, and is enclosed by a 17th-century one-bay extension beyond. An external stack to the north has its flue carried up the tile roof pitch to join the other stack. A late 16th-century stair tower is located in the southeast angle, on the site of the former east aisle, with a higher 18th-century extension to the east of it, and an external stack to the south. A 19th-century red brick dairy, also in a Flemish bond pattern, stands to the northwest of the crosswing.

The west elevation has three pairs of 20th-century sash windows on the ground floor, and three sash windows on the first floor, two within gabled dormers and one in the attic gable. A recessed area with a rounded head suggests a former doorway one bay from the south end, although no internal evidence is visible. The main entrance is now through a plain boarded door in the east end of the dairy.

The ground floor interior is mainly plastered, with jowled posts visible. The central truss of the hall is exposed, featuring a steeply cambered tiebeam with quadrant mouldings mitred at the ends, and arched braces with moulded spandrels and spandrel struts. An octagonal crownpost has a moulded cap and base, with four-way rising braces of straight, square section. A carved boss below the centre of the tiebeam is mutilated and partly concealed by plaster. Arched braces of square section support the arcade plate. The truss to the north shows a reversed assembly. Rafter holes in the south sides of the rafters confirm the former presence of a blocked doorway, indicating that the “high end” of the hall was located to the north. One post on the stair, on the site of the former east aisle, has a matrix, appearing to be of a notched lap joint, although now filled with cement and partly obscured. The roof of the crosswing has been raised approximately 1.30 metres and rebuilt in a butt-purlin form. The stair tower retains one original window with an ovolo-moulded jamb, lintel and two mullions, now blocked by the 18th-century extension.

The house was likely built by Robert Bourchier, Lord Chancellor of England, who acquired the manor by marriage, held his first court in 1329, and died in 1349. The site is moated.