Belstead Hall

Belstead Hall is a house with a complex history, dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries, with extensions in the 19th century and later. It incorporates a tower or gateway from around 1300. The construction utilizes brick, timber framing, rendered surfaces that imitate ashlar, and plain tile roofs. The plan is complex, incorporating a hall, a crosswing, a 19th-century crosswing to the right, and 19th and 20th-century service ranges to the left and rear.

The medieval tower or gateway is situated within the main range and supports an axial stack. The right-hand gabled wing, dating to the early 19th century with a top storey added mid-century, is two and a half stories high. The main central gabled wing features an early 20th-century part-glazed ground floor addition and a tripartite sash window on the first floor. The two-story main range has ground floor additions of varying construction. The right-hand return has two and a half stories, with tripartite sashes and dormers featuring casements with glazing bars and moulded brackets. The rear elevation displays varied fenestration and a part-glazed door. The roof construction includes widely spaced rafters and tiers of butt purlins and collars.

Inside, the medieval tower or gateway is square, with an arched passageway. It is constructed of mortared flint rubble with tile and brick, and stone dressings. The presumed late 13th-century construction is suggested by the dimensions of the bricks (approximately 205 x 104 x 45mm), although the drip mould above suggests a later date. A round arched doorway cut through at first floor level has later brick jambs. The main range features timber framing with exposed jowelled posts, and a former first-floor chamber displays ogee moulded plastered cornices and a spine beam with two roll mouldings and beading to the soffit. A plastered ceiling displays Tudor roses and fleur de lys from around 1600, characteristic of the Ipswich style. A first-floor stone chimney piece is set into the medieval tower, featuring lozenge and rosette panels, vine leaves, and a later inserted central panel with moulded jambs. There are also deep moulded cornices and beams to first-floor chambers dating from around 1600. The 19th-century wing contains a staircase with stick balusters and a ramped and wreathed rail. The roof of the cross wing has widely spaced rafters, with no visible purlins; the main roof has two tiers of butt purlins and collars.

The Hall is Grade II* listed, principally for the significance of its medieval tower.