Mergate Hall

Mergate Hall is a large house of 17th-century date with significant later additions. The building is constructed of colour-washed brick with plain-tiled and pan-tiled roofs.

The house was originally planned as an L-shaped structure with a short service wing projecting to the rear at the north end of the main block. In the early 19th century, a staircase block and a two-storey wing with an apsidal end were fitted between the wings. A low laundry wing was added to the front at the north end in the late 18th century. The building rises to two storeys with attics and a cellar.

The main facade comprises ten bays. Eight bays are arranged symmetrically, with a 19th-century gabled porch. Windows include 17th-century two-light mullion and transom windows, several with original metal casements with leaded lights. An early 19th-century cornice with flat brackets runs across the facade. Two large timber-framed attic gables and two 19th-century gabled dormers with decorative barge boards are prominent features. The remaining part of the facade includes a three-light ovolo-moulded mullion window with an 18th-century three-light mullion and transom window above, both retaining original lintels decorated with an egg and dart derived motif. A crow-stepped gabled dormer contains an 18th-century three-light mullion and transom window with an original rectangular hood mould.

On the north side of the original service wing are one six-light and one four-light ovolo-moulded mullion and transom windows with surviving saddle bars, casements and fittings. The central mullions are strengthened with carved scrolled brackets on their interior faces. The south facade was remodelled in the early 19th century with three first-floor sash windows with glazing bars and a bracketed cornice. Two ground-floor windows have Victorian casement frames and possible remains of 17th-century moulded brick pediments. A large external stack stands on the west side.

The early 19th-century rear facade features a projecting semicircular bay with three sash windows with glazing bars on each floor, with skewback arches and taller ground-floor windows rising from ground level (one window replaced with French windows). A staircase addition has a raised and fielded panelled door and an extremely tall sash window with glazing bars above. Crenellated parapets adorn these additions, and crow-stepped gables are found throughout. Two blocked oculi in the north gable of the main block have raised moulded brick reveals. Several stacks, mainly with 19th-century polygonal shafts, punctuate the roofline.

The interior contains extensive 17th-century panelling, including one blind arched aedicule with fluted pilasters and carved spandrels. Some original ovolo-moulded beams feature elaborate faceted stops. One original fire surround upstairs has a three-bay geometrically panelled overmantel divided by balusters and finely carved borders. A possibly original staircase to the south side of the hall is now redundant. Exceptionally fine early 18th-century oak panelling with raised and fielded panels and raised and moulded borders is found upstairs. A fine early 19th-century staircase is contained within a double apsidal plan with square-sectioned balusters and mahogany handrail.

Original roofs over the late 17th-century wing employ a clasped purlin with reduced principals type, featuring unusual ogee-moulded stops to the butt-purlins. Several late 19th-century cast iron fireplaces with abstract geometrical motifs, designed by Jekyll and produced by Barnard, Bishop and Barnard of Norwich, are preserved within the house.