Thornage Hall

Thornage Hall is a hall dating back to approximately 1482, with alterations made in the 17th century and 19th century. It was formerly a grange belonging to the Bishops of Norwich and was built for Bishop Goldwell (1472-99). The building is constructed of rendered flint with stone dressings and has a black glazed pantile roof. It is rectangular, measuring approximately 9 metres by 21 metres, and now has two storeys and an attic.

The front of the hall features four stepped buttresses, with the right-hand buttress being double width. Internal gable stacks are made of small gault brick, and there is a central axial stack. A large, five-order equilateral stone arch is on the left-hand side, leading to a former screens passage. Deep mouldings are present on both the front and rear of the arch, with slender round shafts to the second and fourth orders. The arch now lies behind the foundations of a former porch and is likely a reset porch arch. A smaller doorway is situated to the right, featuring a barely pointed arch and rendered round shafts. The door is a late 19th-century panelled door, heavily carved with medieval themes including the monogram "MR" with lilies in a pre-Raphaelite style. Above the door is a 15th-century square-headed window with two cusped lights under panel tracery. To the right is a full-height window with a similar head, featuring a transom at the first floor level; the window was later extended approximately half a metre below its original level. Stone dressings are present, and the spandrels both inside and outside show shields depicting a "W", a well, and a scallop – symbols of Bishop Goldwell. Windows were inserted on the left-hand side after 1851. The left-hand side of the arch features a full-height window to match the right-hand side, and to the right of the arch, on both the ground and first floors, are cross windows with rendered brick surrounds. The right-hand gable has a flint and brick mosaic, while the left-hand gable is rendered flint and brick, with a blocked stone doorway arch in the centre. An 18th-century three-light casement with glazing bars was inserted into the ground floor, and two 20th-century attic windows were added. A 19th-century lean-to of no particular interest is also present.

The rear of the hall is a coursed flint and brick mosaic with an irregular pattern near the eaves and a pantile roof. Parts of two four-centred relieving arches are visible on the upper floor to the right, and a similar full-height arch is on the left, possibly indicating the remains of a former hall oriel. Casement windows from the 19th and 20th centuries are present on both the ground and first floors, along with two stepped buttresses with stone dressings.

The interior of the hall was floored and subdivided in the 17th century, with service rooms added to the rear. It features roll-moulded chamfered beams with ogee and bar stops. A 19th-century pine dogleg staircase with bobbin turned balusters is located behind the right-hand door. The fireplace in the right-hand room has a 19th-century pine surround with carved relief trailing foliage, and late 19th-century tiles around the grate, decorated with rondels depicting the activities of the months in a pre-Raphaelite style. The left-hand room has an inserted fireplace across a blocked doorway arch. The roof has been rebuilt, with many timbers renewed, featuring scissor bracing, three rows of butt purlins, some moulded purlins, and large rough-hewn pine ties. A drawing from 1851 shows the stacks and both door arches. Thornage Hall forms a group with the dovecote, barn, and cartshed.