Crows Hall (Including Bridge Over Moat And Walling Lining Inner Side Of Moat To West And South)

This is a manor house dating from the mid-16th century, with alterations made in the later 16th century. The building consists of a single range, situated against the moat, with a gatehouse and bridge to the south. Other ranges that once stood within the moat are now lost. The manor house is constructed of red brick, with diaperwork detailing in dark brick headers on the west and south faces. It has a plaintiled roof. The building is two storeys high with an attic. The west gable end features octagonal corner buttresses topped with pinnacles, one of which has moulded brick enrichment. A parapet tops the gable. There are two modern reproduction windows on each level of this gable, the attic window having a hoodmould. This gable end was re-faced in the later 16th century.

The south front includes a good original six-light upper window with old diamond-leaded glass. Below are two square-leaded ground floor windows dating from around 1700, set within segmental arches. A blocked original doorway is located near the east gable end. A 19th-century two-storey addition features a stack with two tall octagonal shafts. The north front retains two upper windows within their original openings, with other openings altered and one 18th-century window set within a segmental arch. Two stacks are set against the outside wall, the western one partially rebuilt in the 20th century. Later brickwork indicates where another wing was formerly connected at the west end.

To the south, a one-storey gatehouse range features a flat parapet with copings and a modern window matching that of the main house’s west front. The gatehouse has octagonal buttresses with pinnacles, and a four-centred brick arch with a hoodmould above a weathered stone tablet, which once bore the arms of the Gawdy family. The entrance is accessed by a contemporary four-arched bridge over the moat, with a flat parapet and brick copings, splayed at the west end. Diapered brickwork lines the inner face of the moat to the west and south.

The interior contains a fine late 16th-century staircase with three flights around a square well, enclosed by two tiers of heavy turned balusters and circular newel posts. The stair has oak treads, with the lower flight being solid. A partition wall against the lower flight exhibits close studding and serpentine bracing. A plain, two-flight staircase leads to the attic. There are several wide four-centred arched doorways with leaf-carved spandrels and applied mouldings. Several old doors are present, three on the first floor having an unusual design with 28 long, narrow moulded panels. 17th-century panelling lines the side passage on the upper floor. The main ground floor room has exposed ceiling beams, suggesting that a third of the room has been lost to an adjacent cellar.