Pointells Hall

Pointells Hall

Pointells Hall is a timber-framed hall house with a thatched roof, formerly known as Nettle Hall. The building dates to the 15th century, with a central hall flanked by service rooms to the west and a high-status chamber to the east. A timber-framed outbuilding bearing a date plaque of 1723 was added to the north-east in the 18th century. This outbuilding was linked to the main range in the 20th century by a flat-roofed link, creating an L-shaped plan. The outbuilding was further extended to the north in 1982, and a 21st-century conservatory has since been added to the west of the wing.

The exterior of the main range features a gable roof with an off-centre ridge stack and decorative boarding at the eaves of the gable ends. The south elevation displays one large eyebrow dormer and an off-centre 20th-century boarded door with a simple hood positioned approximately where the cross passage entry would have been, flanked by 20th-century casements. The north elevation has a small roof dormer. At ground-floor level, a scar in the external plaster marks the probable position of the rear cross passage entry. 20th-century casements are present at ground floor, though part of the original diamond-mullioned hall window survives at attic level. The 18th-century outbuilding is similarly detailed with wide barge boards to the gable ends and 20th-century fenestration.

The interior of the main range retains considerable evidence of its original hall-house arrangement. The ground floor displays wall studs, jowled storey posts and sole plate of substantial scantling, jointed and pegged. The central room (former hall) contains an inserted 16th-century stack with an inglenook fireplace, an exposed bread oven and chamfered bressumer. The inserted 16th-century floor frame features substantial transverse bridging beams with wide chamfers, stops and carpenters' marks, with joists in situ. One door surround from the screens passage survives in use, comprising a four-centred arch head with plain spandrels, chamfered jambs and a worn timber threshold. The room at the former service end retains the second passage door, mostly exposed following post-fire restoration; although the lower portion of the right-hand jamb has been removed, vestiges of wooden hinges and part of the door latch remain clearly evident in the left-hand jamb. In this room the sole plate, studs, midrail and corner braces are extant, with part of an original window frame and glass surviving embedded in a 20th-century casement. The room at the east end of the range (the former solar) contains an inglenook with a bressumer and another bread oven with an iron door, with a midrail encased in the chimney above, though much of the wall and floor frame has been replaced.

The upper floor, accessed by 20th-century stairs, retains the cross frames of the hall and room partitions. In the central room, much of the upper roof structure was replaced following a fire but replicates the form of the 15th-century trusses. The wall plates survive, and part of the five diamond-mullioned hall window is exposed. The roof structure is believed to include wide floor boards. At the west end, the wall plate, wall studs, end cross frame and room partition remain, with some rafters and a purlin replaced, though the roof structure is substantially intact, including a pair of windbraces and jointed and pegged purlins to each pitch. The roof structure above the collars is not visible but is thought to consist of coupled rafters. At the east end, some rafters have been replaced, and a jowled storey post is exposed in the modern stair well, with the wall plate, some studs and corner braces remaining.

The interior of the 18th-century outbuilding has been remodelled; where exposed, the timber frame is of slight scantling using the lower quality timber typically associated with framing of this date.