NHER 31889 (Building record) - Old Hall (Hall Farm), Gissing

Marked on (S1) as 'The Hall'.

(S2) description 1975 describes as a ruined house, 16th/17th century timber frame with traces of pargetting, tiled gabled roof. Off centre stack; two storeys and attic. Timber framed 18th century extension with stack. Also large 17th/18th century red brick barn with central cart doors.
Another barn 17th century timber frame clad in 18th century brick and weatherboarding, with attached 18th century brick cow house with drip moulded window.
All Grade II. (S2).

1996. A. Rogerson (NLA) noted in passing that house now ?restored, interesting 17th century details apparent.

How does this relate to the hall site?
See record under NHER 12078 and 10942.
E. Rose (NLA), 22 July 1996.

The house in fact appears to have replaced the building on the moated site (NHER 10942) before the upgrading of the rectory to form the present Hall (NHER 12078).

2005. Building Survey.
Notes that, despite the 1996 observation above, the house has now largely vanished. The barns and outbuildings are here dated as two 17th century brick buildings with 18th century timber-framed structures attached, and 19th century clay lump sheds.
See report (S3) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S4).
E. Rose (NLA), 21 November 2005.

June 2008. Historic building recording.
The Old Hall Farm barn complex comprises four 17th century buildings, originally surrounding a central courtyard, with later clay lump sheds to the west. Of the 17th century buildings, three are barns, of which one may have been a stable, and the fourth may have had a domestic function. The NE/SW orientated barn/stable, on the northwest side of the complex, is a timber-framed building with a pantiled roof, the structure of which is highly unusual (with cranked queen posts jointed to the tie, principal rafters and collar - to be known as 'the Gissing cruck', due to its additional appearance in another of the Old Hall Farm barns). The building dates from the early 17th century, but includes a later inserted floor and late 19th-early 20th century north gable-end, constructed with reused brick. The entrances are from the gable-ends and it lacks side cart entrances, which makes an original use as a barn unlikely; the building has been most recently used as stables. The NE/SW orientated barn to the east of the complex is constructed of brick laid in English bond with ventilation loops throughout and includes a buttressed cart entrance on its eastern side, as well as also employing 'the Gissing cruck'. At the northern end of its west wall, it now adjoins a slightly later barn at right angles. It post-dates the first barn/stable, and is probably from the mid-late 17th century. A third, NW/SE orientated, barn to the south of the complex joins the second barn at its southern end, replacing its southernmost bay and gable and forming a hip where this building's south pitch continues onto the other's roof. This is a later 17th century timber-framed building, filled with wattle and daub/clapboard. The timber frame is less impressive than the other buildings, but it also has a noteworthy roof structure with unusual trusses. Only one bay and the south wall survive of the fourth NW/SE orientated building, which would have formed the northern boundary of the complex's central courtyard. Its south wall is now integrated into a later shelter shed. It may have had a domestic function, suggested by blocked windows and evidence of an upper floor with closely spaced joists and plastered boards.
The report was compiled in response to a planning application for residential conversion.
See (S5).
E. Whitcombe (NLA), 30 July 2010.