Ludham Hall Including Attached Chapel

Ludham Hall is a house with an attached chapel, dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. The site was previously occupied by a palace of the Bishops of Norwich, which was destroyed by fire in 1611 and subsequently rebuilt by Bishop Harsnett. The chapel was added in 1627.

The main house is constructed of flint with ashlar quoins, with a late 18th-century brick facade. It has a plain tile roof. The chapel is built of brick and has a pantile roof. The east facade of the house extends over two storeys and six bays, set on a flint plinth. The bays are rebated with pilaster strips, with the central two bays topped by a pediment on a plain parapet. A round arch doorway is located to the left of the centre, with a segmental tripartite sash window to its right. There are single sash windows to the left and right, and tripartite sashes to the end bays. The first floor has six sashes, all with glazing bars and gauged arches, which are skewback or segmental depending on the type. The gabled roof has two ridge stacks and internal end stacks to the south. The south gable shows the roofline of a demolished gabled building. There are three blocked attic windows and a 20th-century half-glazed door. A two-storey late 20th-century extension, of no particular architectural interest, is located to the south-west. The west front has two storeys and three bays, featuring sash windows with glazing bars and skewback arches. Evidence of blocked windows is visible. The north gable head retains its kneelers, and has blocked windows on each floor, with a renewed three-light cross casement in the attic.

The chapel is built against the north-east corner of the house at a right angle, and is connected by an 18th-century crenellated parapet. It includes a three-stage square tower on a flint plinth, with a blocked four-centred west window, a two-centred window on the second stage, and an arched belfry window with honeycomb brick infill. A plain parapet sits above a string course. The gabled nave is supported by diagonal corner buttresses and stepped side buttresses, with four bays on the north and south sides. The entrance is on the south side, in the west bay, with a four-centred ashlar doorway and decorative incised geometric motifs on the jambs. A date plaque above the doorway reads "S. M. 1627." Blocked round-arched windows are in the central two bays, with ashlar jambs. The east bay is currently blank, except for an illegible ashlar plaque. The east end of the chapel has been altered in the 20th century, with full-height timber doors and rebuilt brickwork. Buttresses from the original structure remain. The north side also has four bays, with two lateral bays blank. The central bays feature a blocked window and full-height timber carriage doors in the remaining bay. The roof structure has been altered and is now hipped at the east end.

The interior of the chapel is partly floored and has a roof of tie beams, two tiers of taper-tenoned butt purlins and collars. Against the west wall is a forge with an arched flue.