Old High Hall

Summary

Old High Hall is a multi-phased vernacular house originating in the late C15 or early C16 and extensively remodelled in the first half of the C17.

Reasons for Designation

Old High Hall, a multi-phased vernacular house originating in the late-C15 or early-C16 and extensively remodelled in the first half of the C17, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the innovative nature of early brick chimney and its high quality ornamentation;
* for the display of local distinctiveness in its materials and craftsmanship, making use of timber framing and thatch roofing.

Historic interest:

* for the very great rarity of the brick chimney which is unusual for its early date and function within an open hall;
* as a vernacular farmhouse which has survived with a high degree of intactness since the mid-C17;
* for the layers of historical value found in its multi-phased evolution.

Group value:

* as part of a group with other historic buildings within the historic hamlet of Boyden End: Boyden End Cottages and Boy End Stables.

History

The hamlet of Boyden End on the edge of the modern centre of the village of Wickhambrook is a survival of the dispersed settlement types that characterised medieval Suffolk.

The house now called Old High Hall is a multi-phased building which dates in its earliest parts to the late C15 or early C16. The parlour (the western bay of the house) shows signs of a phase of reconstruction and possible enlargement that may have occurred in the late C16. The hall and service end were rebuilt in around 1620-30 when a new frame was constructed and a first floor inserted in place of the former open hall. A bakehouse or dairy was attached to the north side in the mid-C17, into which a chimney and ceiling were later inserted.

The 1838 tithe survey for Wickhambrook records that the house was then known as Boyton End Farm. The buildings were associated with around 64 acres of arable farmland, though the occupants at that time appear also to have been farming a larger farm of 130 acres based at a separately tenanted house on the opposite side of the road called Boyton End (now called Boyden End House).

The building was renamed Old High Hall in the C20.

Until the 1960s there was a group of agricultural outbuildings to the west and north of the house. Following their demolition the existing thatched garage to the left of the house was constructed.

In the 1970s a thatch fire damaged the house, resulting in the replacement of the roof timbers, and possibly the reconstruction of the parlour end. Prior to reconstruction the roof had been hipped over the parlour end. A thatched porch was added to the south elevation in the period after the fire.

The building contains an especially early brick chimney, in-line with the doorway on the principal elevation. This is a rare feature that was originally built to heat a full-height open hall. Medieval open halls were prestigious spaces that formed the focal point of domestic activity. They had no ceilings or upper floors so that the smoke from open fires on the ground could rise into the rafters. Chimneys in vernacular houses began to appear in the C15, often to allow for the insertion of an upper storey. Attached to the south side of the chimney is an area of brickwork now incorporated into a C20 fireplace in the parlour, but may have originated as a narrow staircase. This is a rare example of a brick chimney purpose built for an open hall that was not floored until at least a century after its initial construction. The high quality and innovative nature of the chimney suggest that the building was originally constructed for a high status household.

Details

Old High Hall is a multi-phased vernacular house originating in the late C15 or early C16 and extensively remodelled in the first half of the C17.

MATERIALS: the house is timber framed and rendered. It has a steep pitched roof of thatch with an ornamental block ridge, hipped to the rear.

PLAN: the plan dates to the mid-C17 when the present lobby-entry arrangement replaced an earlier cross passage.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation faces south, parallel to Back Lane. It is two storeys high with a trapezoidal eyebrow dormer at attic level. In line with the diagonally shafted brick chimney stack is a late C20 thatched porch. On the left of the porch is the parlour bay, with multi-light timber casement windows at ground and second floor. To the right of the porch are the hall and service end bays, each with multi-light timber casements all differently spaced and of different sizes.

The gabled west elevation has pentice boards marking the top of the ground and first floors. There are small casement windows at first floor and attic.

The rear (north) elevation also has an eyebrow dormer and an irregular configuration of casement windows. At ground floor there are C20 French doors to the parlour bay, next to which is a small arched window which forms part of the fireplace.

The single storey former dairy or bakehouse extends north from the C17 service end. It has a hipped thatch roof with a brick chimney stack and low eaves. There are C20 casement windows on each elevation.

INTERIOR: the interior is laid out according to a C17 lobby entry plan with the former parlour at the west end, the floored hall at the centre and the service end at the west. The building's phases can be read in the framing, most noticeably between the parlour and hall bays. Scars in the timbers show the original location of a cross passage at the east end of the hall, the former location of twin doorways into the service end, and the original location of a stair in the south-east corner of the house. A C20 replacement staircase now occupies a similar position closer to the hall.

The most significant interior feature is the brick chimney in line with the present entrance. This was originally exposed all the way to the roof but is now interrupted by the structure of the first floor. The wide hearth is splayed on each side. There is a small arched window on the right, possibly originating as a seating niche. The mantle beam is embattled with two tiers of carved crenelations. Three trefoil arches can be seen in the brickwork of the chimney stack where it continues into the first floor chamber, now truncated by the floor structure. Part of the rear side of the fireplace is exposed in the parlour where six original arched niches form a decorative feature. Attached to the south side of the chimney is an original brick wall facing the hall which has been used to form the back of a C20 fireplace in the parlour.

On its south side of the stack the original brick wall of the fireplace continues for a short distance in the hall. In the parlour a C20 fireplace has been introduced against the back of the brick wall, but this may originally have been the location of a narrow staircase.

The mid-C17 north extension retains its original frame and roof structure. On the north wall the original mullions of a blocked window survive. The fireplace here incorporates an older lintel and jambs, but the brickwork of the stack is C19.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

426782

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Stenning, D. F., Early brick chimney stacks in Essex Archaeology and History, Vol. 20, (1989), 92-102

Other
'Old High Hall' Historic Building Survey, by Leigh Alston (July 2020)

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