Nowton Hall

Nowton Hall is a former farmhouse dating back to 1595, as indicated by the date and initials "A.P." (for Anthony Payne, d.1606) on the chimney-stack. An earlier 16th-century fragment exists, with further additions from the 18th and 19th centuries. The main range is two storeys and attics, arranged in a three-cell layout. The construction is timber-framed, with jetties along the main front. The ground storey is faced with colourwashed brick, while the upper storey is rendered. The roof is covered with 20th-century plain tiles. The house features an internal chimney-stack with four octagonal shafts, attached heads, and moulded bases. A large plaster panel with a raised fishscale decoration surmounts the square base below the stack, displaying the date and initials. A further internal stack, located west of the first, has a plain red brick shaft. Small-paned sash windows are present, along with two canted bays on the ground storey and tripartite small-paned sash windows on the upper storey. An early 20th-century half-glazed door is set into a late 18th-century surround, featuring an eared architrave and a rectangular traceried fanlight. Exposed timber framing is visible internally.

At the west end of the main range are remnants of an early 16th-century cross-wing, now re-roofed in line with the main range, accompanied by a later chimney-stack on its east side. This section exhibits tension bracing to one end wall and a partial half-bay, potentially from an earlier hall range. The remaining part of the main range corresponds to the 1595 date, consisting of five bays, including the chimney-bay, with an original stair-wing behind it. This stair-wing contains a relocated staircase, featuring a plain handrail to the first floor, with a later upper flight leading to the attics. A large open fireplace with a timber lintel is situated east of the main stack. The interior displays good close-studding with a middle rail throughout the range, alongside ovolo-moulded main beams to the ground and first floor ceilings, and several ovolo-moulded mullioned windows, now blocked but retaining their mullions. The roof incorporates clasped purlins, large principal rafters, and remnants of wind braces. The original attics are primarily plastered. The house stands on the remains of a roughly E-shaped moated site. Historically, the manor belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Edmundsbury prior to the Dissolution.