Gatehouse Range At Hadham Hall 60 Metres West Of Hall

This is an early 16th century gatehouse range, located 60 metres west of Hadham Hall. It incorporates a 15th century brick building, likely constructed for the Baud family. The range faces south and features a central gateway leading into an entrance court.

The eastern half of the building incorporates a thick-walled rectangular brick structure with decorative black brick diaperwork on its south face. A narrow window slot, with a wide reveal on the interior, is visible in the west wall, now part of the staircase. The upper section of the gatehouse range, also from the 16th century, has a steep-pitched roof covered with old red tiles. The roof is hipped at the eastern end and extended over the gateway, which was originally a tower.

Large four-centred brick arches are present in both the south and north walls. The southern facade displays more elaborate diaperwork above the archway, which consists of three chamfered orders with alternating black brick headers. A chamfered plinth extends 2 metres on either side. A wide staircase, with solid oak treads, rises on the east side of the carriageway, accessed through a square-headed, chamfered doorway on the north side. A small four-centred arched window on the south side illuminates the space beneath the stairs. A garderobe shaft with an external arched cleaning hole is situated at the northwest angle of the gateway.

The carriageway is spanned by wide, chamfered and stopped beams, similar to those found over the ground floor of the western half of the range. This western part is a narrower and higher 16th century brick building, contemporary with the gateway. It has two square-headed windows with chamfered brick surrounds on each floor, not vertically aligned, and a square-headed, double-width doorway in the center. The original heavy oak window frames remain, with diamond oak mullions surviving on the lower floor, and mortices visible above. A blocked central doorway is present on the north side, and a single first-floor window has a chamfered surround.

The roof is covered with old red tiles and features a plastered gable at the east end and a gable parapet with tumbled brickwork on the west. The long upper chambers above the two halves of the range have fine roofs with collar purlins and crown posts. These roofs are carefully finished with chamfered members and utilize short crown posts carried on arched-braced collar trusses for the intermediate bays, with undecorated full crown posts at the ends. At the west end, a deeply chamfered and stopped cambered tie beam supports a crown post. Rafters and collars are lap-jointed, and arched braces run through oak corbels at wall plate level. Massive, chamfered and stopped cross beams have been inserted to support a ceiling over the eastern half, highlighting the non-agricultural origin of this early brick range. It was likely used as lodging or for regular domestic purposes until around 1668, when the Earls of Essex moved their residence to Cassiobury, and Hadham Hall became a farm.