Wymondley Bury

Manor house, now a farmhouse, dating from the early 14th century, with significant alterations in the 16th century and after 1908. The building is timber-framed, largely cased in red brick, with steep roofs covered in old red tiles. It is a two-storey, U-shaped structure facing north, situated on a secluded moated site, with wings extending to the rear. The original design consisted of three aisles, with the western bay being floored from the outset, and a two-storey, unaisled crosswing to the east. The construction incorporates a "raised aisle," evidenced by truncated arcade posts in the open truss, supported by a transverse beam, a feature similar to that found at Warden’s Hall at Merton College, Oxford. The roofs above the hall are crown post roofs.

The hall itself is two bays wide, featuring a large stack built into the eastern bay, which creates a cross-passage behind it. The parlour occupies the western bay, while the ground floor of the eastern wing contains 16th-century service doorways, alongside a fine solar on the first floor. The north front displays low eaves in the central section, a two-storey, gabled wing to the east, and a two-storey, attic-lit wing to the west. A significant internal chimney rises through the roof slope. The main entrance, accessed by a studded plank door in a round-arched surround, is situated beside the eastern wing. Additional features include a rectangular bay window to the right, a shallow canted bay to the eastern wing, small gabled dormers on the roof slope, a larger dormer over the bay window, and three-light leaded casement windows on the first floor. A large, projecting chimney is present on the east side of the eastern wing, and an internal chimney extends from the south extension of that wing. A bell is housed under a timber hood on the west wall of the western wing.

The interior reveals the exposed timber framework of the aisled hall, featuring herringbone timber infill between close-spaced studs at the upper and lower ends of the hall. A cellar lies beneath the western bay, containing alcoves within the walls. A substantial 16th-century fireplace beam in the hall exhibits chamfered and roll mouldings, with recessed areas featuring shouldered lintels at two levels behind the fireplace. The hall floor is supported by two parallel longitudinal beams with hollow stops. The massive arcade posts have hollow-moulded jowls and square-section straight braces, with moulded caps and bases to the truncated posts of the open truss. The transverse beam is a 16th-century replacement. The central crown post in the hall is octagonal, with a moulded cap and base, while the end walls feature plain crown posts, with a decorated crown post in the two-bay eastern wing. The western bay of the hall range has a hipped roof with a gablet. The west wall of the western bay is closed by passing braces running from the aisle wall to the tie-beam. Documentation suggests the building is the 'Somerhalle' erected between 1373 and 1400.