Moat Hall

This is a former farmhouse dating back to around 1400, with alterations made around 1500, 1600 and 1970. Originally an open-hall house, it features a partly later-medieval cross-wing at the left-hand end. The building is two storeys high, with an additional storey containing attics. It is timber-framed and plastered, with 20th-century herringbone pargeting panels. The thatched roofs include contemporary casement dormers. The cross-wing originally possessed a pair of cusped late 15th-century oak bargeboards on the west gable, which were removed from the east gable around 1970 (when the house originally faced east). Axial chimneys are present; a mid-19th century chimney of gault brick with four diagonally-set square flues and a sawtooth-banded base is found in the hall range, and a 19th-century chimney of red brick is in the wing. Late 20th-century plastic casement windows have leaded lights. A thatched, gabled, 20th-century entrance porch with a boarded door has been added. The 2-bay open hall retains a central truss, lacking its tie-beam, but retaining an octagonal crownpost of around 1400 with a moulded capital and thick 4-way braces. The framing features close-studding without visible windbracing. The roof bears heavy smoke encrustation. The original parlour cell to the right has been altered, originally having a hipped roof. There is evidence of a former rear cross-passage doorway with a two-centred arched head. The cross-wing is divided into two 2-bay sections; the projecting part is thought to be contemporary with the hall, dating to around 1400, and it originally had an open smoke-encrusted space with a central crownpost truss, featuring an octagonal crownpost and 2-way braces. The rebuilt section contains a 2-bay solar with an open truss, incorporating a well-moulded late 15th-century octagonal crownpost. An upper floor was inserted into the hall in the late 16th century, with plain framing and a chimney with back-to-back open fireplaces serving the hall and parlour. The building underwent major refurbishment around 1970 following a period of dereliction. During this time, a dogleg staircase taken from a demolished inn in Stowmarket was installed in the hall, featuring turned balusters and moulded newel finials dating to around 1600. A large wing constructed around 1980 on the east side is not considered to be of special interest. The house is situated within a medieval moat.