Moze Hall And Attached Front Wall And Railings

This is a house dating from the 15th century, with alterations and additions made in later periods. It is timber framed, with the ground floor and the first floor of the central range faced with 18th-century red brick, featuring a dentilled eaves cornice. The crosswings have plastered first floors. The roof is covered with red plain tiles. The original hall house plan comprises right and left gabled crosswings, with chimney stacks on the right and left returns and at the rear of the central range. The crosswings were originally jettied. Later additions include rear ranges, incorporating a stair turret situated beside a rear chimney stack.

The first floor has a 1:2:1 window arrangement of square, leaded casements with pightle hinges. The windows on the right and left crosswings are transomed, while the central windows are three-light. The ground floor windows are similar, with two lights on the left, three lights on the right, and a three-light casement centrally, set beneath a segmental head. A Sun Insurance plaque is visible on the first floor. There are two similar windows to the returns. The front door, situated to the left of the central range, is a four-panel door with a two-light overpanel, a moulded surround, and a pediment supported on brackets. A single-storey lean-to is attached to the right.

Inside, a ceiling has been inserted into the hall. A large 16th-century inglenook fireplace is present, featuring three rear niches with concave head angles. The room contains heavy ceiling and bridging joists and original boards to the inserted ceiling. Further features include a doorway with a square head and a blocked doorway. One room has moulded ceiling beams. Original mullions are retained in the cross transom windows. A stair turret is located beside the inglenook, and the stairs have turned balusters. Much of the first floor frame is covered, but exposed features include jowled storey posts, halved and bridled top plate scarf, and a square plan crown post base supported by a tie beam, which was formerly arch braced; the crown post arms are now hidden by the ceiling. Sooted rafters are visible. The house also contains original vertically boarded doors and a 17th-century panelled door. A late 18th-century kitchen range at the rear has a brick fireplace with a mantel beam made from re-used medieval timber, and a brick floor.

The front wall, constructed of red brick, extends from the left crosswing to the west and turns south to enclose the front garden. This garden is bordered by 19th-century cast iron railings with ornate arrow heads, which are supported on a low brick plinth. Moze Hall was historically one of the four manors of Ardleigh, sometimes known as More Hall. A Yeoman, Philips Bromley, resided here in 1796. The farm has been surveyed by map-makers Samuel Cosin (1636), William Kendall (1736), and Peter le Neve (1806).