New House Hall, Sheepridge
Details
- also known as: Newhouse Hall
- location: New House Road, Sheepridge
- status: still exists
- category: private house
The hall was badly damaged by an accidental fire on 13 April 2017.
Historic England Listing
- Grade II*
- first listed 3 March 1952
- listing entry number 1279156
NEWHOUSE ROAD. Sheepridge. New House Hall. Circa 1550. Built by Thomas Brook I (whose will describes it as recently built in 1553). Hall range and solar wing probably altered by Thomas Brooke IV (1581-1638) whose initials appear in the solar chimneypiece. East wing rebuilt in 1865 and refronted in 1903. Hammer dressed stone. Pitched stone slate roof. Two storeys with attics. South front. Hall range has continuous string and late C17 or early C18 moulded eaves cornice, very high parapet with three diagonally placed ball finials. Hall has stone mullioned and transomed casements, in double chamferred reveals with 3 + 3 lights. One original iron-framed casement. First floor has a similar window, but smaller. Planked double doors of late C17 or early C18 moulded and shouldered surround with monolithic lintel. Above this one stone mullioned and transomed casement in double chamfered surround. Solar range has two continuous stringcourses and a shallow gable with ornamental finial. Ground and first floors both have one stone mullion and transom casement window each, in double chamfered reveals, and with 4+4 lights. Attic storey has one 3-light stone mullioned window, double chamfered reveals and dripmould. Return side to hall range has one range of stone mullioned and transomed casements in double chamfered reveals, lower window appears to have original iron-framed casement. Strings continue round west front of solar wing, which has an almost complete set of stone mullioned and transomed windows in double chamfered reveals. From south to north they have following number of lights: 4 (one original iron-framed casement on ground floor), 4 (same, on both floors), 2, 3 on first floor (with one light fitted with an C18 sash with glazing bars) and 4 on ground floor (with 2 mullions removed), 3 (ground floor obscured by C19 extension), 3 (ground floor the same). Strings continue round back of solar range. Ground floor has two-storey mullioned casements in chamfered surrounds, both originally 4-light, but both with one mullion removed. First floor has one 4-light stone mullioned and transomed casement in double chamfered reveals. Attic storey has one 2-light stone mullioned casement in table chamfered reveals. Return side to hall range is same as south elevation, except for one half-blocked 2-light stone mullioned window in double chamfered reveals to basement. Rear of hall range has interrupted string course, and high parapet. Three 3-light stone mullioned casements with double chamfered reveals (ground floor one with iron-framed casement and hoodmould, highest one with piece of moulding over voussoirs), and one 2-light stone mullioned and transomed casement in double chamfered reveals. Door opposite screens passage in chamfered surround, with monolithic triangular-shaped lintel. Nearly all windows in solar wing, and hall window in hall range, have original diagonally placed iron bars inside glazing. C19 wing is unobtrusive. Interior Hall Range Staircase probably late C17. Partitions, and door below it have bolection moulded panelling. Closed string. Double twisted balusters. Moulded handrail. Newels with double curved moulded tops, bottom one with acanthus ornament. Bolection panelled partition and door to small room at half-landing level. Ceiling above is apparently of same date: basic plaster oval, ornamented with laurel: four grotesque masks and four bunches of foliage and grapes: festoons of leaves and flowers. Hall ceiling is also late C17, which could either mean that Thomas Brooke IV's alterations had left an unceiled hall, or that the hall range was not altered by him (his initials only appear in the solar), and was not rebuilt until the time of Joshua Brooke (d 1652) or Sara Brooke (d 1683), his widow, or even (less likely) their daughter Hellen Townley (d 1719). Simple plaster oval wreath, gadrooned, and with festoons of leaves, pomegranates and flowers. Centre has two putti's heads and more foliage. Ashlar, fireplace with two-centred arch and moulded surround. Re-set dolerail on west side, placed in its present position in 1865: turned balusters. Above hall. Cupboard on landing with seven simply ornamented panels. Door to room above hall has bolection moulded surround and two similar panels. Kitchen to rear: cupboards with air holes in ornamental patterns, and ornamental iron hinges. Solar Range Solar has chimneypiece initialled "TMB" for Thomas and Margaret Brooke, ie Thomas Brooke IV and his wife Margaret Hanson, who died in 1615. Stone fireplace with ovolo-moulded surround, fancy stops and four-centred arch with ornamental spandrels. Wooden overmantel: gadrooned and dentilled mantelshelf with semi-balusters below and four barbarously ornamented columns above, separating simply ornamented round-arched porch. Room above the solar has the initials "TDB", ie Tomas Brooke IV and his second wife Dorothie Crosland, whom he married in 1624, and who died in 1634. Synopsis of building history The conclusion might be drawn that the house was built by Thomas Brooke I shortly before 1553, that the left hand (solar) wing was rebuilt by Thomas Brooke IV by 1615, its decoration only completed between 1624 and 1634, that Joshua or Sara Brooke rebuilt the hall range in the later C17, that various minor adjustments (eg front door) were made by Hellen Townley circa 1700, and that the right hand wing was rebuilt in 1865.
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