Hall Place

Hall Place was built by the Champneis family on the site of an older building. The house is in two distinct portions, reflecting different periods of construction.

The north half dates from the 16th century and forms a half H-plan. The north front is faced with a chequer pattern of stone and flints, with a cornice and parapet beneath a slate roof. It is two storeys tall. The central doorway features a basket arch set within a moulded stone architrave surround and is lit by a fanlight of three lights. On each side of the doorway stands a tall canted bay with eight lights in stone mullions, rising the full height of the building. Between the west bay and the west wing is a rectangular projection in the angle topped with a half-gable. The wings are gable-ended, each with one window facing north. The inner face of the west wing has three windows and the east wing four windows. All windows are casements with stone mullions and hoodmoulds.

The west front of the 16th-century portion is also faced with chequer-work and has a projecting octagonal turret of chequer-work at the south end. Here stands a two-storeyed canted bay with eight windows in two tiers, and to the north another similar bay on the ground floor only. The east front is of stone rubble and flints set in galleting, with four small rectangular projections resembling chimney breasts, some containing two flues and terminating in twin diamond-plan stacks. Behind the east front sits the contemporary staircase, featuring heavy posts terminating in balls, heavy turned balusters, and a moulded rail.

The half-H wings each contain one long room on the ground floor lined with pine panelling, reached by a cross passage with timber-framed walls with curved braces above rail level. A central doorway leads into the great hall, which has a flat ribbed ceiling. The west wing contains two rooms on the upper storey with elaborate plaster ceilings; the southernmost, with a stone fireplace, served as the chapel.

The south half of the house was added in the late 17th century and forms a hollow square. It is constructed of red brick with a stone string course (now replaced in cement) and a wooden modillion eaves cornice over a cement band, with a tiled roof. This portion is two storeys with an attic.

The south front displays ten sash windows (two blind) on the ground floor within brick arcading with stone keystones above, and ten sashes with intact glazing bars on the first floor. Five pedimented dormers light the attic. A large central doorway has a moulded wooden architrave surround and a large pediment carried on console brackets.

The east front is similarly proportioned with eleven windows and two hipped dormers. The upper floor has sashes, while the ground floor features windows with wooden mullions and transoms, some opening as casements. At the north end is a stone doorway with moulded surround and four-centred arch, flanked by windows with similar surrounds and oculi above in plain stone surrounds.

The west front contains nine windows and five pedimented dormers, all with sashes to the ground and upper floors. At the north end are single oval windows in stone surrounds to each storey, with blank ovals near the south end.

The internal courtyard is entered through a wrought-iron gate on the south side. The north side of the courtyard, forming the south front of the central 16th-century wing, features a red brick tower of four storeys with an eaves cornice and an octagonal lantern above. This tower has two windows and an oval window on each floor. The rooms surrounding the courtyard are service rooms on the ground floor and bedrooms above. The drawing room retains a mid-17th-century ceiling.

Hall Place is scheduled as an Ancient Monument.