The Hall

Details

TL 5664 SWAFFHAM PRIOR HIGH STREET (West Side) 15/154 No 4 The Hall (formerly listed a 8. 4. 1975 the Old Hall)

II*

Manor house, C15 with later additions to the rear and to the North. Remodelled late C18 and external appearance is of that period. Timber-framed and clunch with tiled roofs. Hall and cross-wing with later North range. Open-hall, C15, floored in C16-C17, is timber-framed and of two bay plan with service bay to the South. The walls are rendered and the roof, hipped to the South, is plain tiled and has an C18 stack inserted at the low end of the hall. Two storeys. One original tripartite hung sash at first floor and one Venetian window, also original, at ground floor. The service bay to the South, now the kitchen, is also framed, rendered, and plain tiled but has a lower ridge line. The East-West Cross-wing to the open hall now forms the entrance hall and a rear room, but originally was of at least four bays. Clunch walls, except for timber-framing to part of first floor of one side wall. Plain tiled roof, hipped at both ends with a ridge stack. Two storeys. The gable end of the cross-wing projects at the front and has two flush frame hung sashes of twelve panes each, the heads flush with the eaves. Good central doorway with flanking hung sashes of twelve panes each. The doorway and windows are divided by panelled pilaster strips on plinths but have a shared frieze and moulded cornice carried up over the pediment and the dummy fanlight with radial glazing bars. The door has six raised and fielded panels. The Wing to the North, C18, is also framed, and rendered with a plain tiled roof. Two storeys. The first floor has a tripartite hung sash similar to that of the former open-hall above a Venetian window, also original and again similar to that of the open-hall. There is a two storey canted bay also with hung sashes to the gable end of this wing. At the rear is a two storey parlour wing with pargetted walls and a plain tiled roof. Inside. A few features of the medieval house are visible. In the former open-hall the tie beam has been cut down but the ends are visible and retain the broach stops. There is evidence for a partition wall between the service end and cross-passage. The roof has been rebuilt but incorporates some sooted rafters from the original roof. The cross-wing has an inserted early C16 hearth and floor frame into what was a two bay parlour wing open to the roof. The floor frame has hollow and wall mouldings to the main beams. The roof is particularly fine over this part of the house, although the stack has been inserted and the end bays have been truncated. Now of three bays and part of a fourth, it is of crown post construction of which the crown post to the display truss and one other survives. The post is octagonal with moulded capital and plate bracing to the collar purlin and collar. The base of the post has been cut down. The other post is octagonal but without a moulded capital and has bracing to the collar purlin only. The roof is smoke blackened above the level of the collars.

R.C.H.M. (North East Cambs.), p125, mon (21)

Listing NGR: TL5673264283

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

49375

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Cambridgeshire North East, (1972)

End of official list entry

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