NHER 3296 (Building record) - Old Hall, Hall Lane

Old Hall (OS Antiquity) 1665.
E. Rose (NAU).

1951, Listed Grade II.
Dated 1665, possibly on older core. Carstone with brick dressings, two bays and two storeys. Double range to north bay; south bay with attic. Gables to north, south and west - internal chimneystack to south gable. Main façade to west has quoined brickwork between the two bays; gable to right-hand bay with renewed stone 'N(icholas) H(ammond) 1665'. Large internal chimneystack to rear wall between bays. Two gables to north return, each with internal chimneystack. Cellar.
Information extracted from listed building description (S1), 1988.
E. Rose (NAU), 17 July 1989.

February 2000. Site visit.
Brief external inspection indicates date of 1665 probably correct. Cruciform house, later infilled in 18th and 19th century and restored in early 20th when major 19th century addition removed.
See (S1) and plan in file.
E. Rose (NLA), 25 February 2000.

See also numerous press cuttings in file.

September 2023 and June 2024. Watching Brief.
Maintained during groundworks associated with demolition of lead-to extension on east side of Old Hall and construction of new one-and-a-half storey extension.
The earliest deposit encountered was a probable former topsoil, which was overlain by various deposits, including a mid-reddish brown silty sand layer that appeared to include scorched material. At the eastern edge of the site the former topsoil was overlain by a compact deposit of carstone, sandstone and brick fragments with sandy mortar that potentially represented the remnants of a floor surface or a levelling deposit for a floor above. Two brick fragments recovered from this deposit are of possible 15th- or 16th-century date and therefore potentially related to the postulated precursor to the mid 17th-century hall. The site also produced a number of roof tiles of medieval and late medieval/post-medieval date.
East-north-east to west-south-east and north-north-west to south-south-east aligned wall foundations were recorded that probably formed either a room or courtyard in the angle between the main hall to the west and the building to the north. Walls in the same positions are shown enclosing an open area or yard on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25-inch map (S2) but this may be a secondary use of walls that were originally associated with a demolished part of the house. A more lightly-constructed wall within this area was possibly associated with some form of internal subdivision or a cellar beneath the main structure.
The centre of the site was dominated by a domed brick structure though to be a cistern. This was probably linked to a pump situated on the eastern wall of the demolished lean-to structure, which displayed a date of 1907.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 July 2025.