Description

SJ 4800-4900
9/76

LONGNOR
Moat House

31.05.74

II*
House. Late C14 with c.1600 and C17 alterations. Timber-framed with plastered infill, partly rebuilt in rendered rubble with painted imitation framing; left-hand end wall rebuilt in dressed grey sandstone and right-hand end wall rebuilt in roughly dressed sandstone and rendered brick; plain tile roof. 1:1:2 framed bays; former open hall of two framed bays to left with narrower screens bay and service bay to left.

Framing: closely-spaced uprights with two rails. Two storeys and gable-lit attic. Stone ridge stack just off-centre to right-with rendered brick shaft and rendered external end stack to right. Three window front; two- and three- light mid to late C19 and C20 wooden and wooden-framed metal casements, ground floor to right with segmental head. C20 nail-studded boarded door off-centre to right with C19 gabled timber-framed porch including cusped angle braces and open sides with cast-iron lattice windows. Probable blocked former first floor window to left with two shaped-headed lights and probable blocked inserted first floor three-light window to right; evidence of a former probably C16 two storey porch in front of screens bay off-centre to left (see mortices in frame posts).

INTERIOR: lower end with large C14 joists, chamfered over former screens passage; c.1600 inserted floor in former two bay hall with chamfered beams; large c.1600 inserted stack with two dressed grey sandstone chamfered Tudor-arched fireplaces; inserted c.1600 moulded doorway in lower end; remains of C14 screen including cusped brace (mortices suggest that this formed one of a pair of open quatrefoil panels flanking central entrance to hall). Two first floor c.1600 chamfered stone fireplaces; old doors throughout. Fine C14 smoke-blackened roof: billet decorated frieze. Trusses have chamfered brackets with moulded capitals, the central hall truss with carved head corbels; moulded main posts and braces to central hall truss with moulded tie beam, queen struts, collar and cusped v-struts; chamfered arch-braced intermediate collar trusses with cusped v-struts. Sets of three chamfered butt purlins with chamfered cusped wind braces; spere truss with queen struts and v-struts. Pairs of purlins with wind braces over lower end.

The house was possibly that built for Edward de Acton, whose descendants occupied it from 1377-1610. It probably extended further at each end, possibly incorporating a cross wing, and formed the centre of a larger group of buildings. The house stands within a large, roughly rectangular moat with a fishpond to the east.

R.C.H.M. report (1974), including photographs, plans and sections.

Listing NGR: SJ4935800249

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26594086

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy