Former Billiard Room At Village Hall

Former Billiard Room at Village Hall

A hall house, probably dating to the 14th century and altered in the 17th century, now forming part of East Knoyle's village hall. The building was extended and converted to village hall purposes in 1908 at the expense of the Seymour family of Knoyle House.

The structure presents a rambling L-plan in dressed limestone with tiled roofs and coped verges. The 14th-century range to the right features an ashlar stack to its right gable. A pointed chamfered doorway opens to the left, with a 2-light pointed window with 1908 tracery inserted into what was formerly a first-floor doorway. The rear elevation has a matching 2-light pointed window and a single-light casement to the right. The 1908 village hall attached to the left comprises a main hall set at right angles to the 14th-century range, with a segmental-headed 5-light window with hoodmould to the gable end. Access is via a double planked door in a timber-framed porch on the right return. A stone tablet bearing the Seymour arms and the date 1908 appears on the wall to the left. A service wing to the left has a lower roofline and two single-chamfered casements plus a 3-light mullioned casement. 20th-century flat-roofed extensions are attached to the rear.

The interior of the 14th-century range retains a large open fireplace at the east end, featuring a deep chamfered lintel on stone jambs with bread ovens. The former first floor was removed around 1908 and the roof restored, though one tie-beam truss with an arch-braced collar survives against the stack. A pointed chamfered door at first-floor level appears in the west wall between the 1908 hall and the 14th-century range. A photograph dating to around 1900, displayed in the main hall, shows the 14th-century building with a first-floor pointed doorway accessed by external stone steps.

The building may represent the remains of the medieval demesne farm belonging to the Bishop of Winchester's manor in East Knoyle. The tithe barn was demolished in 1868 and another barn burned down in 1961. The Church House opposite also forms part of this group.