Apperley Hall

Apperley Hall is a large farmhouse, originally dating to the late 16th or early 17th century, with substantial enlargement in the 17th century, minor alterations in the early 18th and early 19th centuries, and some window replacements in the mid-20th century. The house is timber-framed with brick nogging and wattle-and-daub infill, a brick gable on the right end, and a tiled roof. The main block comprises three bays, one room deep, with a two-and-a-half storey cross wing to the left and a two-room deep, single-bay extension to the left of the cross wing. A low brick wing to the right, facing the yard, is of less significance.

The right end of the ground floor framing has been replaced with brickwork, featuring a 2-light casement, a 6-panel door with a weatherboard overhang, a small 2-light casement, and a very old 2-light casement with a long brace from a missing sill to the main post. Above are 2-light and single-light casements, a 3-light frame originally marked with a “Cheese Room” sign, and a 3-light casement with leaded lights and old glass fitted with an iron opening light. The left cross wing projects, featuring a C20 French door and a 2-light mullion-and-transom window above, also with an iron opening light and weatherboard covering. Braces connect the main posts to the tie-beam, and the truss is partly weatherboarded, with two collars and a 4-pane window between them. Later framing, extending three panels high per floor, is visible, including a 2-light window on the ground floor. An external brick chimney is on the right return, with another chimney behind the ridge to the right of the cross wing, and a further chimney on the ridge of the later extension to the left.

On the left return, a stone plinth is visible, with framing extending three panels high per floor; a 2-light casement replaces a former door on the right, and a blocked doorway sits to the left of a boarded door. Above are 3- and 2-light casements, and two gable trusses, each with two collars, featuring a blocked window on the right and a 4-pane window on the left. A bear and ragged staff serves as a finial on the rear gable of the cross wing.

The interior includes a cellar beneath the front half of the cross wing. Wide fireplaces are present with stone jambs and a timber lintel in the cross wing and adjacent room. Stop-chamfered ceiling beams with run-out stops are visible in the room to the right. Jacobean panelling forms a partition behind the door to the yard, incorporating an open lattice and a 2-panel door to the right. On the first floor, a 3-board 17th-century door with moulded edges, a 2-board door with a wooden pull and two wooden locks, and a 5-panel 17th-century door are present. The end bay on the right is open to the roof, and the adjacent bay features a cambered floor with exposed joists. The roof construction includes angled struts to the principals, one or two pairs of purlins, and no ridge piece, with straight braces to the purlins. An early 19th-century passage was created in the left extension, leading to a rear door, and a marginal-light window was inserted into the rear corner of the cross wing, subsequently replaced in the 20th century. The site may be the location of an earlier building, from which a badge of the Earl of Warwick (a bear and ragged staff) was taken. The house was known as Birch Place in the 19th century.