Langmans

Langmans is a timber-framed hall house built around 1540. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the hall range was fully floored over and a chimney was inserted into the smoke bay. The house was heavily extended to the rear in the early 20th century, with further additions made in the 1920s. An orangery added in 2007 is not of special interest and is excluded from the listing.

Materials

The hall house is timber-framed with brick infill to the panels and a red clay cambered tile roof. Later additions are in red brick with red cambered tile roof coverings.

Plan

The hall house originally comprised five bays but now has four, including the former kitchen bay (used as a dining room in 2023), a former open hall, and a former solar (both combined to form a lounge in 2023). The smoke bay to the open hall contains a chimney adjacent to a lobby entry, and the ground floor is fully floored over. There are three bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor. Extending from the rear is the early 20th-century south wing, which contains a living room and gym beneath two bedrooms and a bathroom. The early 20th-century north wing comprises a kitchen beneath an office or bedroom, with an attached orangery to the rear.

Exterior

The hall house is of two storeys and four bays, orientated north to south under a gabled roof. The main west façade rests on a plinth and has five large posts forming the bays, between which are large panels separated by studs and infilled with brick. Several of the upper panels have substantial arch braces.

From north to south, the bays feature: a projecting two-storey, early 20th-century square bay window under a hipped roof; a projecting single-storey, early 20th-century open porch under a hipped roof; another two-storey, early 20th-century bay window; and then a two-light, square-leaded casement window to the ground floor with a wooden mullion window to the first floor of the end bay. The latter probably represents the original window form of the house. Each of the bay windows has a set of square-leaded casement and fixed windows to the ground floor and further casements to the first floor. The northernmost bay has three lights whilst the third bay has four lights. Both bay windows are two casements deep. The space between the upper and lower windows is tile-hung. The entrance porch is two bays deep and set on wooden posts with a low dwarf wall. It leads to a four-panelled door with a square-leaded side light.

The hall house roof is covered in cambered clay tiles, above which rises a large chimney ridge stack of four flues. The north gable end has large timber-framed panels infilled in brick and then a ground floor two-light casement, a first floor two-light casement, and a single casement in the gable, all situated left of centre. The south gable end has a brick outer skin dating from around the 1900s and is an irregular composition with a two-light leaded casement window and a five-light leaded casement window to the ground floor, and two two-light leaded casements to the first floor. Separating the ground floor windows is a substantial brick buttress, whilst at the south-east corner is a tall red brick chimney stack.

Attached to the rear of the original hall house are a south wing and a north wing. The south wing is of two phases: the first bay of the south elevation was erected around the 1900s with a five-light, segmental-headed leaded casement and top-hung window to the ground floor and a five-light, leaded square-headed casement to the first floor. The following three bays were added around the 1920s and are of lesser interest. These bays have three two-light fixed and casement windows to the ground floor and a three-light casement and a five-light casement to the first floor. The ground floor windows are divided into 24 subsidiary panes by wooden glazing bars but the first floor windows are each formed of a single pane. The gable end of the south wing has an off-centre French window with a transom light to the ground floor and an off-centre glazed door and casement window to the first floor. There are two casements to the ground floor and a single casement to the first floor of the north elevation of this wing.

The north wing is also of several phases. The first bay of the north elevation was originally added prior to 1841, although it has undergone later alterations, and comprises a half-glazed side door beneath a single-light casement window. The following two bays were added around the 1920s and are of lesser interest. They comprise a two-storey bay window under a hipped roof and a boarded door. The bay window has a three-light casement to each floor separated by mock timber-framed panelling. The north gable end has mock framing and a single window to the gable. There is a small, late 20th-century infill range between the north and south wings. Extending from the rear of the north wing is an orangery added in 2007, which is not of special interest.

Interior

The main entrance of the hall house leads into a small lobby next to the central chimney, which has back-to-back hearths occupying the former smoke bay. At the north end is the former kitchen (used as a dining room in 2023), which has rough-hewn ceiling joists measuring 12 centimetres by 10 centimetres laid on edge, and a substantial 17th-century chamfered spine beam with lamb's tongue stops. The timbers to this room are unpainted but elsewhere on the ground floor they have been painted black. The inglenook fireplace appears to have been largely rebuilt with a substantial bressummer beam and a bread oven. On the east side of the fireplace there is a small lavatory entered from the adjoining range with modern sanitary ware, fixtures and fittings. Partitioned off from the eastern side of the former kitchen is a 20th-century straight-flight staircase leading up to the first floor.

At the south end of the house is the former open hall and solar, where there is a rebuilt inglenook fireplace with a bressummer beam and a mock bread oven. The original partition between the hall and solar was set back to form an undershot dais—an internal jetty facing the open hall—but the partition has been removed and the hall fully floored over, forming one large ground floor room (currently a lounge). The ceiling joists to the former hall bay are 14 centimetres by 10 centimetres laid on edge. Both the spine beam and joists are chamfered and stopped. The joists to the solar are approximately 12 centimetres by 16 centimetres laid flat, and also chamfered and stopped. The posts below the former internal jetty are chamfered and stopped to the top and bottom and on all four sides. All of the stops are curved step. There are original timber wall panels, braces and jowled posts, some with carpenters' marks, visible internally to the ground and first floor. However, there are also a number of late 20th-century straight or machine-cut mock timbers.

The main staircase leads up to a first-floor corridor along the eastern side of this range, providing access to a bedroom and bathroom over the former kitchen and two bedrooms over the former hall and solar. The massive rough-hewn tie beams have all been truncated along the corridor and the wall plates have also been cut through in two places to provide access to the adjacent wings. All first floor rooms in the original house are ceiled well above the tie beams, including at purlin level, and thus shaped to resemble attics. There are back-to-back fireplaces to the chimney and back-to-back cupboards in the former smoke bay serving each of the respective bedrooms. The bedroom at the south end of this range has a brick fireplace at the south-east corner. The first floor bathroom has modern sanitary ware, fixtures and fittings throughout. Floors at this level are currently (2023) concealed by carpets but uneven surfaces to at least some of the rooms may indicate survival of original or historic floorboards beneath. Internal doors to this range appear to date to the 20th century. The late 20th-century and early 21st-century internal fixtures and fittings and sanitary ware to this original mid-16th-century range are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing.

The house has a clasped purlin roof with curved wind braces and queen struts. It was originally hipped with a gablet at the south end; however, the purlin has been subsequently extended by a rough scarf to form the gable. There appear to be three surviving original wattle and daub partitions in the attic space. The roof timbers over the former open kitchen and smoke bay are blackened, as is at least one of the wattle and daub partitions associated with the original flue. The north end of the roof has queen jacks to the gable. A number of modern machine-cut roof timbers have been inserted to support or supplement the original roof structure.

The south wing has a living room and gym or playroom to the ground floor and two bedrooms and two bathrooms to the first floor. There are modern fixtures and fittings and sanitary ware throughout this wing, including modern reproduction fireplaces and joinery. The north wing contains a kitchen and a bedroom or office accessed via a late 20th-century spiral staircase, and also contains modern fixtures and fittings throughout. A late 20th-century single-storey infill between these ranges contains a plant room and utility room, again with modern fixtures and fittings. The internal fixtures and fittings and sanitary ware in the north and south wings, as well as the late 20th-century infill range, are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing.

Exclusions

The late 20th-century and early 21st-century internal fixtures and fittings and sanitary ware to the original mid-16th-century range are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing. The internal fixtures and fittings and sanitary ware in the north and south wings, as well as the late 20th-century infill range, are also not of special interest and are excluded from the listing. The orangery added in 2007 is not of special interest and excluded from the listing. However, any works to these structures or features which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require Listed Building Consent, and this is a matter for the Local Planning Authority to determine.