Bull'S Hall And Attached Outbuildings

Bulls Hall and Attached Outbuildings

Bulls Hall is a two-storey timber-framed farmhouse constructed between 1530 and 1580, with external render and a steeply pitched pantile-covered gable roof with an off-centre axial ridge stack. The building was altered and subdivided in the 19th and 20th centuries, then restored in the early 21st century. It follows a seven bay, three cell cross passage plan with the high end to the right (East) and service end to the left (West). A detached two-storey building stands to the West, also with a pantile-covered gable roof and linked to the Hall by a single storey 20th-century extension.

The south-facing façade includes a single storey extension with a remodelled roof built in 1924. A 21st-century glazed timber porch leads to the front cross passage door in its original 16th-century frame. A separate entrance door opens directly into the parlour to the right, with a 16th-century four-centred arched door frame and 21st-century battened door. Ground floor hall and parlour windows have been reinstated with diamond mullions of approximately 100mm. First floor mullion windows are exposed in the service chamber and parlour stairs, but all other windows are 20th-century casements in unaltered openings.

The East elevation is jettied on curved brackets with exposed pentice board, plates and purlins, and 20th-century casement windows at ground and first floor levels. The North elevation faces the garden and has fully reinstated mullion windows at both ground and first floors. The rear cross-passage door is to the right of centre in a restored 16th-century frame with a 21st-century door. The West elevation has a first-floor mullion window and the 20th-century link at ground floor level.

Interior

The interior features very close studded framing of substantial scantling throughout. The 16th-century ground floor plan has been restored, comprising an off-centre cross passage with hall and parlour to the right and service chambers to the left, separated by a 21st-century right-hand cross passage screen. Two service doorways with four-centred arched frames lead into the former buttery and pantry. The intact 16th-century service stairs survive.

A four-centred arched opening leads to the hall, which is lit by large six and seven-light mullion windows to the front and six and three-light mullions to the rear. The hall features stop-chamfered axial bridging beams and mid rails, storey posts and joists, and a large inglenook fireplace with a very large bressumer at the right end.

The parlour is accessed through a four-centred arched door frame and contains very large window openings, jowled storey posts and stop-chamfered axial bridging beams. An external parlour door has been reinstated in its 16th-century frame. A second inglenook fireplace in the parlour has a rebate in the brickwork, possibly for a bench. The parlour stairs to the first floor were remodelled in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The first floor form remains little altered, though a 19th-century partition has been inserted into the hall chamber to form a bathroom and service chambers have been lightly reworked. Door frames and most of the skirting date to the 16th century. The wall and cross frames feature reverse curved arched braces halved over studding, with large 16th-century window openings throughout. The pantry stair window has five restored leaded lights containing 14th-century glass. Jowled posts with chamfered arched braces support cambered tie beams, cranked in open trusses and reverse cranked in closed trusses. The roof truss comprises queen struts with collars clasping purlins with halved principals and windbraces.

The detached building to the West has a 17th-century frame with stop-chamfered and roll-moulded bridging beams on the ground floor and close studding throughout, with arched braces and a clasped purlin roof. It may have served as a kitchen.

History

The building has been known as Bulls Hall since the 14th century, following William de Bulle, who was granted the manor by the King. The present house was probably constructed as a farmhouse in the period 1530 to 1580. 17th-century documents provide an inventory of the building and valuable insight into its function as a farm. In the 18th century, Bulls Hall was remodelled into a lobby entrance plan farmhouse with subdivision of the hall, insertion of a new front door in front of the chimney, and infilling of the parlour door. The early 21st-century renovation restored the 16th-century form and revealed many unusual features.

Bulls Hall is a fine example of a substantially complete 16th-century timber-framed former farmhouse with 18th-century alterations. The early 21st-century refurbishment removed 19th and 20th-century modifications and exposed many 16th-century features including solid treader oak stairs, leaded lights with 14th-century glass, inglenook fireplaces and a rare separate ground floor parlour door. The retention of the 16th-century form and survival of good quality framing throughout is unusual. Combined with documentary evidence about the building, Bulls Hall possesses special architectural and historic interest.