Hunstanton Hall, Moat Bridge And Garden And Forecourt Walls

HUNSTANTON HALL, MOAT BRIDGE AND GARDEN AND FORECOURT WALLS

A country house of considerable architectural and historical significance, with origins dating to 1487 and substantial development continuing through to the 19th century. The hall has been the seat of the Le Strange family since their marriage with the heiress of the Domesday owner, remaining in their hands until sale after the Second World War. The estate was inherited by the Styleman family in 1760. Henry Styleman (1815–1862) added Le Strange to his name in 1839 and, together with his son Sir Hamon Le Strange, initiated the development of New Hunstanton whilst also undertaking restoration of Old Hunstanton church.

The hall is largely a two-storey moated courtyard house. The gatehouse, originally detached, dates to 1487 and is built in brick. The principal wings, forming a courtyard to the north, south and west of the gatehouse, date to circa 1625–1640 and are constructed in chequerwork of clunch and carstone, with carstone returns. Nineteenth-century wings are of flint and carstone. A house to the west, dating to the 16th century but with a porch dated 1618, was burnt down and demolished in 1853, though the porch remains as a freestanding structure.

The gatehouse is a two-storey perpendicular gateway block with parapet and flat roof. It has a battered brick plinth. The ground floor contains two four-centred stone mullioned casements with drip moulds and two single-light casements with external protective iron stay bars. The central gateway features a four-centred stone carriage arch, with shields and clasped hands carved in the spandrels and drip moulds above. Fifteenth-century two-leaf oak panelled gates hang in this opening. The first floor displays three arched two-light wooden framed casements with lead glazing bars, cement rustication and stone drip moulds. Pierced stone tracery ventilation panels are set at ground floor level. Stone quoins, a parapet string course and brick battlements with stone copings complete the external treatment. Four single brick shaft stacks stand at the four corners, with two central double-shaft stacks at the mid-point of the parapet at north and south. Two lead downpipes dated 1757 with the monogram HS are fitted to hoppers. The soffit of the arch shows ribbed vaulted roof construction on corbels. The north return has one blocked chamfered brick four-centred door and window, whilst the south return has one blocked and one open four-centred door with a stone rear arch to the court.

A bridge over the moat is attached to the east, comprising a single stone-dressed arch with brick abutments. A parapet continues parallel with the moat to north and south.

The ranges forming the enclosed court to the north and south of the gatehouse date to circa 1625–1640 and were built for Sir Hamon Le Strange (born 1583). They display a mixture of vernacular Gothic and Jacobean classicism, possibly designed by William Edge (1584–1643), the stone mason, and his family.

The east entrance façade consists of two symmetrical two-storey ranges of four windows each, returned to the west on an "L" plan. The construction is of rubble carstone with galleting to the plinth. Ground and first floors feature chequerwork of knapped flint and carstone. Cement-rendered brick dressings, stone quoins, string course and battlements are employed throughout. The north range has been roofless and burnt out since 1947. It displays three ground floor mullioned casements comprising two with three lights and one with two lights. The first floor has three three-light windows and one two-light window, all mullioned and transomed. The south range contains four ground floor windows (three with three lights, one with two lights) and four first floor windows (three with four lights, one with two lights). Ground floor windows are mullioned only, whilst first floor windows are mullioned and transomed with lead glazing bars. Four lead downpipes dated 1757 with the monogram HS are fitted with hoppers. Within the courtyard, the gatehouse return has two inserted doors of circa 1625 and three first floor windows.

The north wing displays one first floor window and, to its north-west return, two ground floor three-light windows, two lancets and three doors. The first floor contains four windows, two retaining surviving mullions.

The south orangery wing has one first floor window and, to its south-west return, a façade matching that of the north wing. This comprises three ground floor doors, two ground floor windows and three first floor windows, all with mullions, transomes and leaded glazing bars. All ground floor doors throughout are of classical inspiration, featuring architrave surrounds with arches and keystones. The doors themselves are of three- or four-panel construction with ribbing arranged in the heads as a fanlight pattern. This wing was formerly connected at the south-west with the 16th-century house, now demolished.

At the north-west corner stands a domestic range of three storeys, dated 1873 and executed in High Victorian Gothic style, possibly designed by architect Frederick Preedy. A single-storey wall is attached to its south side, incorporating the mid-19th-century west porch of the demolished 16th-century block. Behind the 1873 block stands a two-storey range of two builds, said to represent the earliest part of the house. It retains wooden-framed mullioned and transomed casement windows with glazing bars, dated to circa 1700. The north-west corner was formerly gabled but is now cut down to a flat roof. A circa 1900 Tudoresque single-storey brick block is set behind.

Carstone garden walls are attached to the north-west, west and south-west. A carstone and stone-dressed parapet wall runs along the moat to the west and is dated 1622.

A service wing runs parallel with the north side of the court. It is two storeys with attics, partly burnt out and roofless, constructed of flint with stone dressings. The main structure is dated 1835, with the attics and gables dated 1879.

A single-storey "L" plan wing at the north-east is not of special architectural interest.

Prominent brick stacks throughout the complex date to circa 1873.