Stalham Hall

Stalham Hall is a house dating from around 1670, with substantial restoration work undertaken in 1935-36. It was built for Robert Puckle of Norwich (1625-75). The house is constructed of brick, partly rendered, with pantile roofing and is built in an Artisan Mannerist style. The south front is two storeys and attics, arranged in five bays, with a central two-storey porch. The façade is characterized by paired pilasters, separated by a deeply moulded continuous string course. The ground floor pilasters have moulded bases and block capitals, while the upper pilasters sit on wide, waisted bases with elliptical indents and block capitals, culminating in a deeply moulded parapet string course. The windows are rustic copy-book Venetian casements, with arched central lights and transomed side lights, some of which have been restored. Original metal casements, catches, hinges, and leaded glazing from around 1670 remain. The porch is entered through a segmental-headed doorway with moulded imposts. A wall sundial dated 1624 sits above the string course. A two-light cross casement is positioned above the porch. An original plank and muntin door, enclosed by a splayed rendered brick surround, provides access to the entrance. A shouldered brick gable, rebuilt in 1935-36, rises above the porch, containing a French window opening onto the flat porch roof—also from 1935-36. The gabled roof features two dormers with casements, and the gable walls are enriched with chequered burnt headers. Internal gable end stacks are present. A gabled cross wing extends north, flush with the east gable wall of the main block and features two storeys and a dormer attic. It has three timber, two-light cross casements to the ground floor and four to the first floor, all in altered openings and with leaded lights. A flat-roofed dormer and a ridge stack are located to the left of the centre. The north gable wall was partly rebuilt in the 20th century. The west side of the cross wing has been altered but retains two ovolo mullioned windows, one of two lights and one of three. At first floor level, there are 16 pigeon nesting boxes arranged in two rows of eight. The rear of the main range is dominated by a large, full-height, step-gabled staircase tower of square section, illuminated by two 17th-century casements. To the right and left of the tower are two-storey, flat-topped crenellated additions dating from 1935-36. Inside, the cross wing has a spine beam with sunk quadrant mouldings. Brick cellars are present, alongside a circular well. The dining room features small framed panelling using a masons’ mitre. Its overmantel has fielded panels and Ionic pilasters, while the bridging beam and cornice are pargetted with leaf trail and vines. The lounge has early 18th-century large frame panelling, a matching overmantel, and a 20th-century plastered ceiling imitating 18th-century designs. All doors are original, within molded shouldered architraves. An open-well staircase rises to the attic, with a closed string and bulbous turned balusters supporting a molded handrail between square newel posts, the newels having ball finials and a dog gate of two tiers of turned balusters. The roof comprises tie beams, two-tier butt purlins, and collars. The roof structure of the cross wing was renewed.