Althrey Hall

Althrey Hall is a timber-framed house with a slate roof, dating to the 17th century but with alterations and additions in later periods. The house is arranged in an 'H' shape, with two-storey wings projecting from an open central hall. A kitchen extension exists to the left, featuring a steeply pitched slate-clad chimney bay. The jettied wings and main range are characterised by timber-framing, including herringbone patterns. A gabled porch is located at the angle of the service wing and cross wing, and a cross wing projects to the left. Windows throughout are 20th century replacements. The rear elevation largely lacks original timber-framing, although the jettied chapel wing on the left retains it. A large 20th-century brick stack, built from the foundations of an original, is positioned off-centre.

The open hall is flanked by storeyed wings and a cross-passage, screened from the hall by a spherical truss. The hall features arched-braced trusses with cusping above the bracing, with the upper part of the spherical truss being a later replacement. An upper truss at the dais end suggests the presence of large windows in the past; at the service end, a single cusped windbrace remains, while the rest of the roof structure contains 20th-century windbraces replicating the original pattern. The upper floor chambers at the dais ends are of unequal size; the north chamber contains remains of wall paintings depicting pomegranates and foliage. The south wall is decorated with alternating strips of red oxide and blue/grey, alongside graffiti with some 16th-century elements. A rare post-Reformation private chapel is accessed via an opening, and features a painting of the celestial city on the ceiling and sacred monograms in the tympana. A two-bay chamber to the south also displays remnants of wall paintings, most notably an exceptionally well-preserved double-portrait of a man and a woman in mid-16th century dress - a feature of national importance. The service end of the hall contains a range of openings, one of which leads to a passage with a boarded ceiling, continuing to a former kitchen. The rooms above the service area appear to have served as parlours, with a trace of wallpainting in the south room. The former kitchen is storeyed, featuring chamfered spine beams with run-out stops of 17th-century style. Above this is a room with panelling of 17th-century character.