Buck'S Hall

Buck’s Hall is a manor farmhouse with a complex history, dating from the mid-14th century to the early 19th century. A substantial renovation occurred around 1970. The front of the building is of red brick, with the right gable end being cement-rendered. The rear portion is timber-framed and cement-rendered. The roof is covered in plain clay tiles, with different slopes to the front and rear. It is two storeys high at the front and one-and-a-half storeys at the rear, featuring three windows with mid-20th century, three-light mullioned casements containing horizontal glazing bars, each with a segmental arch. Single-light windows flank the central entrance. A 19th-century four-panel door is set within a 20th-century gabled open porch supported on heavy timber posts. An internal stack is located within the older rear range, against the rear wall of the 19th-century wing. A single-storey addition extends to the right of the rear range.

The rear range, a key feature of the house, is a high-quality, two-bay former open hall. The service end on the right has been replaced by a 1970s addition. A particularly fine, richly moulded ogee-headed doorway, over two metres in height, is situated in the front wall. Each spandrel of this doorway contains a circular carving: one depicting a sun, and the other featuring three mouchettes. A similar, though less well-preserved, doorway is believed to exist on the opposite side, concealed by plaster. The doorway frame includes a mid rail; much of the upper studding remains, except for the wall adjacent to the front range. The cross-passage mid rail has moulding. A wallplate features an edge-halved and bridled scarf joint, approximately 0.3 metres long, remarkably early for its type. The roof space retains intact studded gables, the upper one with undisturbed sooted plaster. Posts supporting the open truss display remains of buttress-shafts. The truss is of raised-aisle form, with a cambered tie beam and heavy arched braces meeting at the centre. One side of the truss is cut away, but the surviving brace connects to the tie beam with struts. The tie beam supports square queen-posts with inner buttress-shafts, further bracing from which extends to an upper tie beam, also cambered. Short solid braces connect to the arcade plates, all of which are intact. The upper tie beam is supported by a cross-quadrate crown-post with four-way bracing. Most original collars and approximately 70% of the rafters remain. A plank cornice set square is located just above each arcade plate—a feature comparable to that found at Church Farm Stable, Fressingfield. A 16th-century inserted ceiling has chamfered cross beams and concealed joists. The staircase within the front range includes 17th-century turned balusters, square panelled newels, and a contemporary handrail. The site also contains remains of a medieval moat.