Redbournbury

Redbournbury is a farmhouse, originally a manor house belonging to the Abbey of St Albans. The building incorporates a large 15th-century hall and was extended in the mid-16th century and again in the mid- to late-17th century. The roof is covered with plain tiles. The main part of the house is two storeys high and has four 19th-century glazing bar casement windows. A central, wide half-glazed door is set within a modern surround. A gabled cross wing, dating from the mid-16th century, is situated on the right side. The hall is to the left of the cross wing, with its ends marked by mid-16th-century red brick ridge chimney stacks; the western stack is inserted into a cross passage, while the eastern stack dates from the mid- to late-17th century. The hall’s walls are faced with flint and stone. Inside, stone arched doorways lead to the rear of the side walls. A broad fireplace on the west side features a roll-moulded four-centre arch. The roof is exceptionally well-preserved and smoke-blackened. It is supported by arch braced collar trusses resting on carved stone corbels, with curved wind braces. An original smoke louvre is located in the centre of the roof. The east fireplace has a timber lintel. A mid- to late-17th-century gabled stair turret is at the rear of the building, and a service wing of the same date is attached to the east, but with later red brick cladding.