Building record SSH 026 - Bleak Hall, Blood Hill

Bleak Hall is a grade II-listed timber-framed farmhouse of considerable historic interest. Its unusual name derives from the neighbouring farm to the south, which was known as Blake’s Hall in the early-19th century. This name was later corrupted to Bleak Hall and its neighbour accordingly became Cold Hall. When the original Bleak Hall was demolished in the mid-20th century its name transferred to Cold Hall, which was then in the same ownership. The house reflects the standard domestic layout of the 16th and 17th centuries with a central hall flanked by a parlour on the south and a pair of service rooms on the north. The parlour dates from circa 1580 and originally adjoined a low, narrow medieval hall, but the latter was entirely rebuilt along with the service bay at the beginning of the 17th century. The walls of the old parlour were raised shortly afterwards to match those of the new hall, and the present chimney was inserted between the two. This chimney contains three well-preserved 17th century fireplaces with original red-ochre pigment to the brickwork. The service bay initially contained a single storage room and the present axial partition is an 18th century insertion. Unusually the hall re-used the ceiling timbers from another 16th century house, as did a new wing that was added to the rear in the early-19th century. The house has been extensively altered over the centuries but retains much of historic character, with at least one intact 17th century window and evidence of several others. It was probably designed to face its farm yard to the west, and may have contained a lobby entrance adjacent to the chimney. The lean-to on the present front elevation facing the road is an addition of the mid-20th century, when the house was unsympathetically renovated, but may have replaced an earlier lean-to which disguised the fact that the 16th century parlour is two feet narrower than the 17th century hall (S1).