Read Hall

Read Hall is a former farmhouse of 15th-century date with 16th-, 17th- and later alterations, renovated in the 1970s.

The building is timber framed with rendered panels and tile-covered gable roofs, generally of two storeys with attics above the service range to the east and cross-wing at the west. A 17th-century ridge chimney with moulded, angled pots sits off-centre to the west. The earliest configuration was a two-bay open hall with cross passage; buttery and pantry to the east with storage and chambers over; and solar (parlour) to the west of the open hall with chamber over. In the later 16th century a cross-wing was added to the west, reconfiguring the solar. A stair and stack bay was inserted between the hall and cross-wing, and the hall floored over. In the 17th century the main entrance and a lobby was added to the south of the stack, giving the hall a lobby-entrance plan.

The north elevation has restored hall window openings in the centre, probably converted into an oriel in the 16th century as evidenced by the handmade brick panel which supported the corbels for the window. Square mullioned windows to the right and left were revealed during the renovation. 20th-century work is indicated by the use of diamond mullions. To the left, a boarded 20th-century door with two-centred arched head marks the entrance to the cross-passage. The cross-wing to the right has a slight jetty supported on moulded timber brackets; its rear elevation is blind apart from a later opening inserted in the gable apex. The south elevation became the principal façade in the 16th century and has restored casement window openings of 16th- and 17th-century date with later frames with ovolo moulded mullions. An off-centre 20th-century or earlier porch has been added to the front of the stack bay. The cross-wing has a slight jetty on moulded brackets beneath which is a small oriel flanked by tripartite casements; to the right the stairs are lit by a range of seven lights. In the centre there are extensive four-light casements with leaded glass and tripartite windows at the service end. The east elevation is rendered; the west elevation has a large six-pane casement with leaded lights on the ground floor and a four-pane casement on the first, both flanked by tripartite casements.

The 15th-century framing remains substantially intact and comprises close stud work, cranked midrails, sole and wall plates of considerable scantling and pegged in place. On the ground floor the east cross-passage frame remains with buttery and pantry door openings, one blocked. There is evidence for two stairs into the first floor, and attic rooms of the service end are apparent. The west cross-passage frame has been lost, although the grooves for the screen are evident in studwork on the north and south wall frames. Fine 17th-century panelling has been inserted close to the position of the cross-passage and is believed to be in situ. In the 20th-century renovations, part of the attic flooring was removed to reveal the impressive 15th-century crown-post roof with coupled rafters. Massive cranked tie beams with arched braces support the roof with a central octagonal crown-post with moulded chamfered base and cap from which four upward braces (two of which have been replaced) rise to the crown plate.

The 16th-century work comprises floor frames with deeply chamfered axial bridging beams and joists with diagonal cut stops. Brick floors on the ground floor were re-laid in the 20th century but are otherwise contemporary. The back-to-back inglenook fireplaces have some replaced brickwork but are substantially intact. To the west, the ground floor framing of the cross-wing has roll-moulded transverse bridging beams, sole plate and midrails. The room above has well-crafted wall framing with roll-moulded bridging beams and an arched brick fireplace. The attic space above has an intact common coupled rafter roof with clasped purlins and windbraces. The 16th-century winding newel stair, positioned to the south of the stack, services the cross-wing and is intact; large floorboards on the landings are likely to be 16th- or 17th-century.

In the 17th century the south pitch of the roof was raised to accommodate larger windows but kept in situ the rafters of the 15th-century structure. A door opening in the south elevation was inserted in front of the stack bay to create a lobby-entrance. Very little alteration appears to have been done in the 19th century, although the roof of the service end was probably partly replaced then as it comprises tree and shrub branches and thin nailed rafters. The 20th-century renovation was masterful in revealing the best features of the hall's different phases. Of particular note is the creation of a gallery at attic height overlooking the restored open hall, partly retaining the 15th-century configuration by exposing the fine 15th-century roof.

Read Hall was one of the manors of Mickfield, previously known as the Manor of Sheppard's, that family owning it from the 16th to 18th centuries. The current hall dates from the 15th century, but a moated enclosure to the north indicates greater antiquity to the site. In Lay Subsidy records of 1524, Thomas Sheppard is stated as being the richest resident in the parish, an accolade subsequently bestowed on both his son and grandson who continued to live at Read Hall. This family of Yeoman farmers owned land and property in other nearby parishes in addition to the Manor, and their wealth is manifest in the remodelling of the 16th century when an oriel window replaced the hall window, the hall was floored over, a cross-wing was built at the west end incorporating a chimney stack and newel stairs. In the 17th century the roof was raised at the east end and a new lobby added to the west end of the south elevation, creating a lobby-entrance plan. In the late 1960s the building was somewhat dilapidated, but was purchased and faithfully restored, receiving a Civic Trust Award for the renovation works.