The Old Hall

THE OLD HALL

A house with adjoining former service range to the north, now subdivided into dwelling units. The principal 1713 house (dated on a rainwater head) was built for Joseph Chaplain, a wine cooper and High Sheriff of Suffolk, who acquired the property in 1701. It incorporates a service range probably of the 17th century and has undergone extensive later alterations and additions from the 18th century onwards through the 20th century. Substantial conventual ranges and a chapel of the 19th and 20th centuries, added when the house became a Benedictine nunnery in 1856, are not of special interest. The house was painted by John Constable in 1801 at the commission of the owner, John Reade.

The 1713 range is constructed of white brick with red brick dressings, standing three storeys with seven bays. It is roofed in plain tile and slate. The west front features recessed outer bays with plinth and quoins. A later Ionic porch with dentilled pediment provides access via a six-panel door with patterned fanlight in a panelled reveal. The windows are eighteen-pane sashes set in architraves with aprons; gauged brick flat arches and jambs in red brick provide structural support, with floor bands marking each storey. The first floor windows are similar in character while the second floor retains twelve-pane sashes. A moulded cornice and parapet complete the façade. The recessed bays to either side echo the main front detailing; the right-hand bay displays a rainwater head dated 1713 with the initials JCM.

The east front comprises a five-bay range with a sixth bay brought forward at the right, employing similar detailing to the west front but without the porch. The library range to the left, originally of single storey, retains three tall fifteen-pane sashes with cambered gauged brick arches. A 20th-century addition was built above this range, and the bowed front to the south was altered and raised at the same time. To the right stands an originally two-storey range with sashes containing glazing bars, some of which have been replaced by casements. A second floor band marks the original structure, with a later addition above.

The interior of the 1713 range centres on a staircase hall with panelling. The fine dogleg staircase features three twisted balusters per tread, carved tread ends, Corinthian newels and a ramped moulded handrail. The panelled dado follows the line of the stair, and the staircase window sits within a pedimented surround. The first floor contains two fully panelled rooms with original doors and window shutters. Remains of original panelling are evident elsewhere, displaying dentilled cornices and doorcases. The library range retains its decorative scheme with dentil and modillion cornice and plasterwork ceiling.

The service range to the north, built of red brick in Flemish bond with a plain tile roof, represents a 19th-century encasing of an earlier timber-framed structure which may relate to the original hall. It features sashes with flat gauged brick arches, though some windows are later insertions, with iron tie bar ends visible and a hipped roof. The interior, though much altered, preserves remains of the original timber frame including stout posts with large chamfered knees secured with iron bolts, one tie beam and other beams. The roof employs butt purlin construction, much altered, with a former window concealed beneath the present roof covering.

The Old Hall was the principal manor of East Bergholt. A single-storey 18th-century addition stands to the south, which was raised to three storeys in the early 20th century. A two-storey 18th-century range to the north, now raised to three storeys (probably in the 19th century), extends the complex.