NHER 15481 (Building record) - Old Hall Farmhouse, South Burlingham

February 1952. Listed, Grade II*.
Listing Description excerpt:
"Farmhouse, late 16th century and later, much altered. Red brick with steeply-pitched thatched roof. Two and three storeys. Off-centre three-storey porch with octagonal angle piers and moulded brick finials. Pedimented doorway with four-centred arch under square head with rose motif in spandrels. Moulded plasterwork decorative panel in tympanum. Doorway flanked by fluted pilasters with reeded bases on pedestals; pilaster pinnacles rebuilt in later brick. Four-light first floor casement in quadrant-moulded and pedimented opening. Tympanum of pediment contains shields flanked by mermaids in plaster relief. Upper window above moulded brick string course, four-light casement with brick drip mould. Remainder of house much altered...Later external stack to north side of porch. Parapeted gables with internal stacks; north gable with moulded brick finials. South gable rendered. On the west side, opposite the porch, a corresponding three-storey projection: upper window blocked, but retaining chamfered reveals and remains of stucco 'ashlar' dressings to opening. Parapeted and coped gable with moulded brick finials. Lower windows partly obscured by later pantiled lean-to. 20th-century lean-to's on west side; two storey gabled wing at south west corner."
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 February 2022.

Fined red brick Elizabethan porch tower with polygonal angle shafts and finials; pedimented entrance and window above, with mermaids supporting cartouche. Remains of finials on north gable. Details from (S2).
Noted by A. Lawson (NAU), November 1979. Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 February 2022.

Further information from [1]: South gable wall has either been rebuilt, or extended southwards in recent times; one can walk behind the chimney on the first floor (if original, compare with Wood Dalling Hall etc.). Stair turret in line with porch. Thatched roof. Fine roof structure remains but rest of interior gutted...Poor condition.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 30 July 1982. Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 February 2022.

S. Heywood (NCC) notes that the outbuildings are the finest 18th/19th-century farm assemblage in Norfolk.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), January 1988. Information from (S3).
These buildings, three of which are listed Grade II, are now recorded separately as NHER 65417.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 February 2022.

The building has an unusual roof with the porch and stair turret having a continuous cross roof carried through the 'main' roof, creating a 'long gallery' in the attic, within which important wall paintings have been discovered. In one of the roof partitions thus resulting is a late 16th-century wall painting of flowers with quatrefoil border, on daub and reed, to be removed and conserved in 1988 due to impending repairs to roof.
Details from S. Heywood (NCC). Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 10 May 1988. Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 February 2022.

Photocopies of photographs of later chimney proposed for demolition in file.
E. Rose (NLA), 15 August 1991.

1991.
Broadland District Council report finding of extensive series of wallpaintings depicting various fox hunting scenes, stated by the Courtauld Gallery to be of great importance; to be restored.
E. Rose, (NLA) 21 February 1992.

The wall paintings in the 'long gallery' date to about 1580, and show a stylised landscape of hills and trees, and a building which may be a depiction of the Old Hall itself.
The adjoining chamber is known as the 'Painted Chamber' and also has the remains of vivid wall paintings.
See (S4) for further details.

1994. Building Survey.
Old Hall farm examined as part of Norfolk Farmsteads Thematic Survey.
See (S5) and NHER 65417 for further details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 February 2022.

See restoration report in file which includes representation of an E-shaped house, possibly the original form of this building.
E. Rose, (NLA) 6 January 1999.