The Old Hall

The Old Hall is a large house of the 16th and 17th centuries, located at Cley Next The Sea on the Coast Road. It is constructed of flint with brick dressings and pantiles, comprising 7 roof bays plus gable end chimney bays, with 2 storeys and an attic.

The garden front faces south-west and displays 5 windows. The wall is built of coursed galletted knapped flint with some erratics and whole flints; the central section was rebuilt in pale knapped flint. A moulded brick eaves cornice was renewed. Internal end stacks are present, with two lozenge shafts to the right that have been renewed. A 4-centred door with renewed doorway sits centre left. The right half of the building has a quoin at ground floor level, formed of 3 thin bricks and 2 flints alternating. Two original openings to the right each contain 2 lights with square brick hood moulds, moulded surrounds and mullions. A small opening below has a wooden shutter, and another opening to the right is blocked with whole flint. All windows are leaded casements installed in 1948, with openings that match the original design, featuring moulded brick surrounds and mullions. The first floor has 5 windows of 2 and 3 lights, with a single light at the far right. A large flat-roofed bay window to the ground floor left contains 1 + 5 + 1 lights. A central roof dormer was added in 1948. A single-storey forward extension of around 1860 extends from the end bay at the right, with a central glazed door to its left return.

The right gable has one window per floor and attic. The left gable has two 2-light attic windows and 2 small windows to the first floor.

The north-east front features a 2-bay addition of 18th-century date under a hipped roof to the left. A 3-light window with transom sits at ground floor level and a 4-light window at first floor level, both of 1948 construction. A large circular stair turret of 1956 crosses the centre doorway, built of uncoursed flint with random bricks and a parapet of concrete urn balusters. The doorway to ground floor and cross window to first floor are in red brick to match other openings.

The interior ground floor comprises 2 large tall rooms separated by a thin partition and step. The south-east room contains massive principal beams with an angle change reflecting the building's form, and a large gable-end fireplace. A part of a 16th-century oak screen with 4-centred doorway and 4-centred opening with shutter hooks survives, as does part of a balustrade with splat balusters, both repositioned. A figure tiller from a French collier wrecked in 1913 serves as a handrail to the 1860 extension.

The north-west room has principal beams with massive ovolo moulding. 17th-century panelling with a strapwork frieze and screen, brought in from elsewhere in 1948, is present. Two 4-centred doorways open to the partition between the rooms, with opposing doorways against the partition. A door to the south-west has box bracing and a wooden lock. A doorway to the north-east is now internal with a glazed fanlight. A large stone 4-centred mantelpiece arch with vine decoration in the spandrels sits in the north-west gable, panelled as a pulpit to Cley Church (of 1611). An 18th-century extension to the east contains a moulded repositioned fireplace and panelling.

The first floor was renewed in 1948. A 4-centred stone fireplace sits in the north-west gable. The south-east room is panelled in pine and oak, with original hinges and fittings to the door of a corner closet. The stair turret has a circular lantern above.

The roof structure features single clasped purlins and curved wind braces, with no ridge piece.

A single-storey extension to the east, once a dairy, now incorporates an archway to the yard.