Description

ROCHESTER BOLEY HILL TQ 7468 SW AND TQ 7468 NW 7,9/7 Old Hall and Old Vicarage 24.10.50 GV II* House (of which Milton Cottage once formed a part, qv Ref 9/6). Late C13 vaulted undercroft; early C16 hall range, built for the Skipwell family, modernised and re-floored in the late C16 by Richard Watts; early C17, mid C18 and later extensions; resotred in late 1940s after bomb damage. Rubble ragstone and limestone dressings, but predominantly timber framed with brick stacks and infill; Kent tiled roofs. Hall range runs E-W, parallel to street, with main entrance to left within a shallow cross wing which is itself partly obscured by a late C17 or C18 wing that comes forward to street level, re-fronted in brick in the late C18, and which stands over the undercroft. Later C16 cross wing to right which was further extented to the W by a series of gabled bays facing Satis House. Exterior. Front: shallow cross- wing with jettied attic and gabled oriel on scrolled brackets, 2:5:2 lights with transom, ovolo mouldings; 2 smaller gabled bays to right, the gable walls with exposed framing. Where visible, the framing is of close studding with rails and occasional straight angle braces. 4 1st floor 12-pane sash windows in exposed frames. Doorway, early C19 with classical surround and panelled door. To right, a later C19 single-storeyed extension (occupying the 2 right-hand bays) with tripartite 10:15:10-pane sash windows. Low, 2-storeyed wing (over undercroft), tile-hung to right side, rendered to left with large external lateral stack with set-offs, the front a regular Georgian 3-window range with 12-pane sash windows in reveals under flat rubbed brick arches; fielded panel door to right under rectangular overlight. Right return of main house, gabled, rendered, with a little framing revealed. 1st floor sases as to front. Rear: irregular. Crosswing similar to front, the oriel without a gable, jettied, timber framing exposed, with replica C16 windows to lower floors. rear wing with much original framing visible, windows largely renewed. Interior: the house possesses a remarkable collection of late C16 and early C17 painted wall panelling for which see Oswald (1953). Hall, ground floor with ovolo moulded ceiling beams and plain joists, one panelled door with fleur-de-lis strap hinges. Re-used wooden lintel for fireplace bressumer. 1st floor (above hall, called the solar by Oswald), stone fireplace with initials A and H in spandrels, small panelling throughout (5 tiers, grained oak, painted (not stencilled) designs, hearts to centre, with lozenges at junction of stiles and muntins. Cyma mouldings). Ovolo moulded ceiling beams. 2nd floor (above hall), fireplace with high-set stops, with initial letters on shields in spandrells (W to right only decipherable); some plaster panels of the exposed side wall, 'antiqued' line drawings of the early C17. The W wing contains an open stair with turned balusters on rising rail; to the rear, the so-called 'Justice Room', fully panelled, the decoration similar to that of the 'solar', with integral paintings (over the stone fireplace) of figures representing Prudence and Justice. Another room contains panelling from Langley House (Ref 7/10). Numerous other C16 and C17 features throughout house. Vaulted undercroft - one of a very small number known to survive in Rochester - with quadrapartite vault, chamfered ribs, plain springers. Reference: Arthur Oswald, 'The Old Hall, Rochester, Kent', Country Life 6/3/1953, 654-8.

Listing NGR: TQ7410868495

External Links

• Wikidata Q17551341

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Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings