Description

TL 64 SE STEEPLE BUMPSTEAD CHURCH STREET
2/59 The Moot Hall, also known
7/8/52 as The Old School House
II*
GV

Market hall, late C16, altered in C18, restored 1890 and 1923. Timber framed,
plastered with exposed framing, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. Square
plan in 2 bays, jettied to NE and SW, with external chimney stack on SE side
and stair tower on NW side. 2 storeys. NE elevation, central 4-panel door,
2 C20 metal casement windows on ground floor and one on first floor. Exposed
joists under jetty with 2 scrolled brackets, original. Above, exposed close
studding with reproduction arched braces. Roof hipped. The SW elevation has
a base wall of red brick approx. 1 metre high, and above it 5 blocked 'shop'
windows with 4-centred arched heads, much restored; the most westerly is
entirely reproduction. Above, exposed close studding with reproduction arched
braces. The original brick chimney on the SE side has an arched recess in the
base with moulded label. The interior of the ground floor has a plain-chamfered
axial beam with lamb's tongue stops, exposed joists of horizontal section which
originally were plastered to the soffits, and C18 fielded pine panelling.
Originally the ground floor was mainly unwalled, possibly with 4 stalls on the
SW side, but was enclosed for use as a school in the C18. The first floor has
jowled posts, angle ties for the hip rafters, and crossed beams connecting the
mid-wall posts, the rafters boarded to the soffits. Originally the only hearth
was on this floor. The stair tower was originally an open structure with arched
braces which remain in situ, but the restoration has added false jetties on
2 sides and a false shop window to the SW. RCHM 10.

Listing NGR: TL6801741052

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Moot Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17557476

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)