Long Hall

Long Hall is a detached house of medieval origins substantially rebuilt and extended over several centuries. The building displays the characteristic development of an open hall house, with later additions creating a U-plan arrangement.

The earliest structural elements date to the 15th century, with significant late 16th and 17th-century work, followed by substantial late 18th-century rebuilding and late 19th and early 20th-century restoration and extension. The front elevation, facing High Street, is rendered in red brick laid in header or Flemish bond with a 5-window late 18th-century design. The centre bay projects forward and contains a central door with six fielded panels in a moulded architrave topped by a pediment. On either side are 12-pane sash windows set in stone architraves. The flanking bays contain two sashes each. Chamfered quoins frame the composition. A plat band runs across the first floor, above which sits a Venetian window with ogee cusped glazing bars at the centre, with two further sashes to the side bays. A plat band and moulded cornice support a brick parapet with stone coping, crowned at the centre by a pediment containing an oculus and ball finials.

The rear and side elevations reveal the complex building history. To the rear right stands a 17th-century parlour wing with a pebbledashed gable end. This contains 3-light ovolo-mullioned casements with hoodmoulds and later 19th-century mullioned casements. A Tudor-arched 19th-century door faces the courtyard. The rear of the main range features 19th-century mullioned casements and a 12-pane sash in a moulded architrave with dropped keystone serving the first-floor drawing room. A 2-light 17th-century mullioned casement sits to the left, with a raised hipped roof over the drawing room.

To the rear left is a 17th-century wing with a Tudor-arched 19th-century doorway and a 3-light recessed chamfered mullioned casement on the ground floor, with a 2-light casement to the first floor and 19th-century mullioned casements to the gable end. Attached to this is a rear wing dating to the 1870s, built of stone with a timber-framed first floor and stone slate roof, featuring leaded mullioned casements. An early 20th-century service range in similar style is attached to the right return of the main range.

A late 19th-century stone wing set back to the left displays 2-light and 4-light mullioned casements. A Tudor-arched garden doorway features a lead panel bearing the arms of H.W. Yeatman-Biggs, Bishop of Worcester.

The main roof is fishscale-tiled with hipped form, whilst the 19th-century wing carries stone slate. Stone stacks rise throughout, with some built over inserted later flues.

The interior is richly appointed with fittings spanning from the 16th to early 20th centuries. The entrance hall features a chamfered Tudor-arched fireplace inserted into a 17th-century stack, with walls lined with reset panelling and Corinthian columns. The panels are carved with fruit and flowers. A room to the left contains a fine stone Tuscan fireplace with columns and entablature, likely dating to around 1700.

The south-east wing contains late 16th-century framed stairs with splat balusters decorated with rosettes, closed string, moulded handrail and square newels with pendants and ball finials. The stairs rise to the attic. The parlour in this wing features a chamfered beam and a Tudor-arched stone fireplace with a reset 17th-century carved wooden overmantel. Good 8-panelled wainscot doors in moulded architraves with stops occur throughout the house.

The south-west wing contains panelling dating to around 1900 in the dining room, which opens to the first floor. The late 18th-century first-floor drawing room displays a fine coved plaster ceiling with guilloche and scrolled decoration, an eared wooden fireplace surround and 6-panelled doors. A bedroom to the west contains a Tudor-arched stone fireplace, whilst a bedroom to the east has an ovolo-moulded fireplace with a depressed arch and Delft tile back.

The attic over the hall retains two 15th-century arch-braced collar trusses with chamfered soffits and smoke-blackening on either side of an inserted later stack. The remainder of the main roof dates to the late 18th century.

The house was owned and extended by the Yeatman-Biggs family. H.W. Yeatman-Biggs, Bishop of Worcester, added the north-west wing and refitted the dining room, likely also introducing the reset fittings in the hall. The family also owned Stockton House.