Far Hall

Far Hall

A T-shaped house of 2½ storeys comprising a main range with hall, kitchen and service rooms, and a wing on the west side containing a cross passage and parlour. The building is constructed of rubble stone with a coursed rubble south front and slate roof.

The main range has a central stone ridge stack with four diagonal shafts, while the wing has a rebuilt end stack of brick with diagonal shaft. The south elevation of the wing features a 19th-century entrance doorway with brick segmental head, boarded door and three-pane overlight. To the right, the main range displays four-light windows with wooden ovolo mullions and reinstated hood moulds on both lower and upper storeys, with a similar three-light window at attic level. The left side wall has comparable two-light windows. Within the wing, a vertical joint running from plinth to eaves indicates that this wall has been rebuilt. Further left are 19th-century three-light windows with metal casements and square-pane glazing, set beneath brick segmental heads on the lower storey and beneath the eaves on the upper storey.

The east front of the main range contains 19th-century openings with brick dressings and segmental heads. An entrance to the right of centre has a boarded door and three-pane overlight. Three-light windows matching those on the wing appear below and above this entrance. The lower storey has windows to either side of the doorway, while the upper storey has four windows. The north gable end of the main range has a blocked window in the lower storey, left of centre, beneath a badly weathered hood mould. The upper storey contains a blocked doorway to the right and the shadow of a former external stair. At attic level is a hooded former window later reduced to form a doorway with brick dressings and boarded door. The rear west elevation of the main range contains an inserted segmental-headed window to the left lighting a 19th-century service stair, and a three-light 19th-century window to the right. The wing's rear elevation has a boarded cross-passage door to the left under a brick segmental head, with three-light 19th-century windows above and below on the right side of each storey. The gable end, largely rebuilt, has a two-light attic window on the left side.

The original plan form has been retained with box-framed partitions throughout, except in the cross passage where a close-studded partition separates it from the hall. The main range features back-to-back fireplaces. In the hall, to the right of the entrance, stands a stone segmental-headed fireplace. Two cross beams have stepped stops, one incorporating a wall post with moulded capital. The kitchen contains a fireplace with chamfered timber lintel, to the left of which is a recess for a 19th-century copper boiler and a bread oven. Spine and cross beams include a spine beam, probably re-used, with slots for a screen. Two boarded doors lead into service rooms, the left of which retains a 19th-century straight service stair. The wing, comprising two rooms now and possibly always, has cross beams. The lower storey retains flagstone floors.

The upper storey contains doors with fielded panels and box-framed partitions. The chamber above the hall displays a profusely ornamented Elizabethan overmantel comprising four panelled bays with round arches, full frontal figures, foliage and vine trails in low relief. The room is wood panelled. To the left of the fireplace is a door with richly-moulded frame and traces of former arched panels. To the right is a small chamber with flagged floor. The room above the kitchen has oak-panelled walls and a shallow triangular head to its fireplace lintel. The small room above the service rooms is also oak panelled.

The wing's two upper-storey rooms are both oak panelled. The south room contains an ornate overmantel to a small fireplace and ornate contemporary panelling incorporating arched panels. The north room has two box-framed panels in the rear wall, evidence that the wing was originally timber-framed, at least in its upper storey.

The attic contains five collar-beam trusses in the main range, unequally placed. The wing has three similar trusses with box-framing in the truss between main range and wing, which includes a doorway.