Crowther Hall

Crowther Hall is a house with a timber-frame core dating back to the late 16th and early 17th centuries, although it may have been constructed in two phases to create the present arrangement of a main range and a long rear wing. In the early 19th century, the main range was refronted with brick, and alterations were made to its layout, for example, to incorporate a central entrance hall.

The main range faces east; the rear wing has an outshut against its north side. The main range is faced with painted brick on the south and east sides, while the north gable and part of the rear wing display timber framing. The rear wing is largely painted brick. The roofs are slate-covered, with end wall and axial brick stacks. The entrance front features a central door within a latticed porch with a shallow arch and moulded cornice, flanked by small-paned tripartite sash windows with keystones over segmental arches. There are three nine-pane sash windows on the first floor, and a canted bay window projects from the south gable end. The north gable shows exposed box framing with square panels, jowled corner posts, and a lower king and queen strut truss, with a lean-to against its lower storey. A deep dentilled eaves band is visible in the rear wall of the front range. The rear wing’s gable wall displays exposed square-panelled timber framing with a queen strut roof; it has a two-window range facing south, with twelve-pane sash windows with cambered brick heads above each floor (although one lower window has been replaced), and a high-gabled dormer in the roof to the right. A small gabled wing projects from the rear wing's north side, and a continuous outshut encloses a side wall stack.

The interior plan consists of a main range with two rooms flanking a central entrance hall, and a rear wing with two main rooms extended by an outshut that houses storage rooms. In the main range, the larger south room was subdivided in the early 19th century to create the entrance hall. This room has broad chamfered spine beams with stepped stops paneling the ceiling; similar beams divide the ceiling of the secondary room to the right of the passage into four panels. A staircase is located to the rear of this room. Upper rooms also feature panelled ceilings mirroring the layout of the lower rooms (though interrupted by a partition in the north room), with broach stops to chamfers. Heavy jowled corner posts are visible in both rooms. A three-bay roof above this section includes one braced queen-strut and collar truss, and a heavy king-post truss. The original layout of the rear wing has been altered by the insertion of a passageway, but the chamfered transverse and axial beams remain visible. Features include wind-braces to the roof, and a queen-post and collar truss in the gable end.

Crowther Hall is a well-preserved and richly detailed timber-framed house, notable also for the alterations made to it in the early 19th century.