Lea Hall

Details

BOMERE HEATH C.P. A528 (east side) SJ 42 SE 3/53 Lea Hall 29.1.52 GV II*

Small country house. Dated 1584, for Richard and Eleanor Lee. Partly refenestrated in the late C18. Red brick (English bond) with red/grey sandstone ashlar dressings. Plain tile roofs. U-plan. 2 storeys and attic, over basement. North-east (garden) front: chamfered stone plinth, flush stone quoins, and parapeted gables with stone copings and kneelers, those to the left-hand range have brick pilasters at apices with moulded stone caps. External brick lateral stacks with pitched- roofed links to attics and 3 star-shaped shafts, integral brick lateral stack at rear to left of right-hand wing with single star-shaped shaft, and probably C18 integral brick stack off-centre to right at front. Central C18 gabled eaves dormer with 3-light wooden casement. Centre with 3 first-floor C18 segmental-headed wooden cross windows and ground- floor segmental-headed wooden mullioned and transomed casement. Blocked C16 double-chamfered 3-light mullioned stone mezzanine window (right- hand mullion missing) to left (possibly to light former staircase). Evidence of blocked ground-floor window or doorway to left (see straight joints). Some inserted small C20 casements. Cross wings with C18 segmental-headed 3-light wooden mullioned and mullioned and transomed casements (ground-floor window of right-hand cross wing replaced with C20 casement), set in blocked openings of former larger mullioned and transomed stone windows. Large probably C19 dressed red sandstone buttress to right of windows in left-hand cross wing, with chamfered offsets and chamfered-arched opening beneath. Curious full-height blocked panels in inner returns of cross wings (see straight joints), the top part of the left-hand panel is recessed and has a blocked doorway. Blocked basement window in inner return of left-hand wing with chamfered reveals. Lean-to addition to inner return of right-hand wing. Left-hand return front: 2 first-floor segmental-headed wooden cross windows, and ground- floor segmental-headed wooden cross window to left with blocked C16 double-chamfered 4-light mullioned and transomed stone window to its right. Right-hand return front: first-floor segmental-headed 3-light wooden mullioned and transomed casement to right and ground-floor blocked C16 paired double-chamfered stone cross windows. Rear: various C18 segmental-headed wooden mullioned and transomed casements and blocked C16 double-chamfered mullioned and transomed stone windows. 6-panelled door off-centre to left with moulded architrave and blocked overlight; C20 hipped-roofed porch. Blocked C16 doorway with dressed stone surround and deep stone lintel. Interior: altered in the late C18 or early C19, possibly including the horizontal division of a former central open hall. Central ground-floor front room: C18 raised and fielded dado panelling, corner fireplace with mid-C19 reeded architrave and C17 overmantel with 2 round arches divided by central carved figure, fluted frieze, and cornice. Framed wall dividing room from rear corridor: chamfered ceiling beams. Staircase with stick balusters. Plank and muntin cellar door beneath stairs. Panelling with fluted frieze. Left-hand ground-floor room: C16 oak panelling with fluted frieze and modillion cornice. C16 grey sandstone fireplace with shallow ovolo- moulded Tudor arch with flanking fluted pilasters, and 3-bay oak overmantel with fluted Ionic pilasters on strapwork base, panelled frieze and cornice, and 3 recessed moulded panels, the centre one with carved head, the

left-hand one inscribed:" L "and the right-hand one inscribed: R E " 1584 " Right-hand ground-floor front room with large open former kitchen fire- place, and right-hand ground-floor rear room with large open corner fire- place. First-floor staircase hall: flanked by square-panelled timber framed internal dividing walls, each side with a series of shaped brackets supporting the first-floor wall plate. Blocked first-floor doorway in right-hand wall, with ovolo-moulded frame and ogee stops. Left-hand first-floor room: pair of deep-chamfered ceiling beams with ogee stops. Oak panelling with moulded cornice. Stone fireplace with shallow ovolo- moulded Tudor arch and moulded cornice. Small bedroom or dressing room to rear, divided from front room by square-panelled timber frame wall with carpenter's marks. The possibility that the central range formerly consisted of a full-height open hall would explain some features of the house, in particular the blocked mezzanine or half-height window to the front and the series of brackets supporting the wall plate at each end. Alternatively (see the blocked first-floor floor), and more likely, the central range was floored with undivided ground-and first-floor rooms, and with a staircase to the front, thus explaining the windows. B.o.E. p. 232; H.E. Forrest, Some Old Shropshire Houses and their Owners (1924), pp. 175-6; Frances Stackhouse Acton, The Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire (1868), p. 41.

Listing NGR: SJ4927821050

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

259114

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Stackhouse Acton, F, The Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire, (1868), 41
Forrest, H E, Some Old Shropshire Houses and their Owners, (1924), 175-176
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, (1958)

End of official list entry

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