More Hall Convent

More Hall Convent is a large detached house, now used as a convent with an attached chapel. The building comprises a core section dated 1582, considerably enlarged around 1620, with further alterations and additions in the 20th century.

The house is constructed of random rubble limestone with ashlar and artificial stone rebuilt chimneys, and has a stone slate roof. It presents as a two-storey structure with attics and cellars, rising to three storeys at the north end. All moulded gables are finished with stone finials, and most windows retain their original lead-latticed casements.

On the west side, two cross-gabled wings project forward to create a central courtyard. The right-hand wing, with parapet gables and finials, marks the end of the original rectangular house. Its doorway—now accessed from an arcade below the central range gable of the 1620 addition—bears a lintel dated 1582 with a hoodmould above. A three-light recessed cavetto mullioned casement on the upper floor was reduced to two lights when the central range was added; above it sits a quatrefoil gable vent. Two single-light casements occupy the front gable. The central range displays a full gable with a large upper-floor mullioned and transomed casement beneath a continuous drip course, and a smaller mullioned and transomed attic casement with hoodmould. The arcade below features a central pointed arched opening with hoodmould, flanked by two openings with cambered stone lintels; a continuous drip moulding steps above the outer openings and incorporates a central inscription panel reading "BENEDICTVS QVI VENIT IN NOMINE DOMINI". The left-hand cross-gabled wing projects forward with continuous drip courses to the upper floor fenestration; single windows arranged on the centre-line of each gable, all of two- and three-light recessed chamfered casements.

The north end presents two gables. The left gable features a large projecting chimney with a cluster of diagonal shafts crowned by moulded caps, with a 20th-century single-storey addition below containing mullioned fenestration. The right gable displays a single-window arrangement, with drip courses continuing from the west side. Additional single-light casements sit above a doorway with chamfered opening.

The east side comprises three full parapet gables. The left gable, lower in proportion and marking the east end of the original house, contains mullioned and transomed casements to ground and upper floors, with a two-light casement and quatrefoil vent to the attic, all recessed with cavetto moulding and hoods. The two higher gables to the right feature three projecting stone rainwater chutes above mixed mullioned or mullioned and transomed fenestration, with taller central windows illuminating the upper-floor hall. Continuous drip courses below both gables are set at different levels. A single diagonal chimney shaft with moulded cap rises from the central gable. The south side displays two full parapet gables belonging to the original house—the left with single-window fenestration, the right with a projecting chimney with rebuilt shaft.

The chapel, attached to the left corner of the house via a short link, features a Tudor arched doorway and was converted from a dovecote between 1912 and 1916. It includes a tall combined porch and belfry of moulded stone, with a Tudor arched doorway, a three-light window above, and coped corners at the base of an octagonal belfry topped by a coped pyramidal roof. A 20th-century restoration was carried out around 1920. An attached 20th-century wing to the south side is not of special architectural interest.

Internally, the large panelled hall on the upper floor of the 1620 addition features a fireplace with short pilaster strips to the upper parts of the chimneypiece; the lower order has Ionic capitals. Other parts of the range contain extensive square-framed timber partitions with Tudor arched door lintels and stepped beam chamfer stops. The roofs of the 1620 addition employ extended collar construction.

More Hall was built for the Fowler family of clothiers. It has served as a convent since the 1930s. The chapel was added for a previous owner, Reverend C.H. Sharpe, who founded the Evangelist Brothers of the Common Life.