Tappington Hall

Tappington Hall is a house dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. It features a timber frame built on a flint base with red brick infilling and has a plain tiled roof. The structure consists of four framed bays with small panel framing, standing two storeys tall on a plinth with a basement. The roof is hipped and topped with a large central cluster of four chimneys, along with a double lozenge-set stack projecting from the right end.

The building has three raking semi-dormers and a small three-light mullioned window at the top centre left. On the ground floor, there are three large windows, which are either four-light or three-light, with mullions and transoms. A central brick porch features rendered chamfered mullioned windows and a moulded arch, inside of which is a fine early 17th-century door with moulded lozenges and both segmental and square panels. To the left, there is an outshot that returns as a single-storey wing, which includes two wooden casements and a half-door. There is also a basement opening to the right. The rear wing jetties out and includes half-doors and wooden casements, as well as stone and rendered brick mullioned windows and a catslide outshot. A moulded nine-panelled door is set within a moulded surround at the rear.

Inside, the house retains its full frame, dado panelling, and inglenook fireplaces. Notable features include a fine moulded chalk block fireplace and an enriched 16th-century staircase that rises to the attic level. The roof structure has clasped purlins.

Historically, Tappington Hall served as the manor house for Tappington Everard manor and was the birthplace and home of Richard Harris Barham, known as Tom Ingoldsby from The Ingoldsby Legends. The first published tale, "The Spectre of Tappington" (1840), is one of several ghost stories associated with the house, including those of the victims of Bad Sir Giles. The staircase is said to be damaged due to the fratricidal murder of a Cavalier owner.