Building record NTT 023 - High Hall

The Schedule of Listed Buildings states that High Hall was 'probably' the work of a certain William Foorth between 1620 and 1630, while Pevsner describes it as an Elizabethan house which is 'clearly only a fragment'. Eric Sanson falls between these two extremes, offering a date of 1590-1620 in his 'Suffolk Houses' of 1977, but also mentions William Foorth 'who lived in Nettlestead at the time'. This confusion related to the unusually dramatic alterations which occurred at High Hall within half a century of its construction, and transformed what must have been on of the most spectacular Elizabethan brick buildings in the county into a relatively modest 17th century farmhouse. The original structure was almost certainly the work of the wealthy and well-connected Wentworth family who lived at Nettlesetad Hall. High Hall was probably designed in the 1580s either as an ancillary residence such as a dower house or quite possibly as a park lodge, but was converted into a farmhouse for somebody such as William Foorth when the Wentworths were obliged to sell up during the Civil War.

The 18-inch thick brick walls and the architectural details such as ovolo-moulded window pediments and mullions are of the highest quality and were evident commissioned by an individual of exceptional wealth yet the remaining structure consists of only two rooms of any quality on its lower storey. A normal, complete domestic house of this period and quality would contain a very substantial two-storied domestic hall and numerous service rooms in addition to several parlours and a complete spurted of ancillary buildings such as stables, kitchens, brew-houses and the like. If High Hall formed part of such a house it can only represent the parlour wing of a much larger building that stood on the site of the modern kitchen and may well have extended still further to the left. There is evidence that the remaining wing was built against an earlier structure which adjoined its left-hand side elevation. A photograph taken prior to the early-20th century alterations clearly shows the outline of a two-storied timber-framed gable immediately behind the present porch. The porch is an original feature as it is respected by the main windows to both front and rear, but it was designed with a gabled roof rather than the lean-to version it possess today; the scar of this original roof is clearly visible on the brickwork within the present roof-space, as is the weathered end of a ceiling joist which projected through the wall. The same wall preserved traces of red-ochre pigment which which the building was originally painted. The Elizabethan house has been dramatically truncated in heigh as well as length. The present hipped roofs were added in the mid-17th century when the original attic storey and most of the third storey were removed. It was not economically viable and socially unacceptable for Yeomen farmers to occupy former palaces, and such converion, from gentry house to farmhouse,usually involved a great deal of demolition. Many Elizabethan mansions in the country survive only in fragmentary for for this reason, and High Hall is probably no exception. Whatever stood to the left of the remaing wing was demolsihed and replaced by the single storey bake-house, and the rest was reduced in height. The panneling and overmantel in the drawing room are mid-17th century aditions as is the fine staircase which respects the truncated height of the building (S1).