Monument record SNN 007 - Coldham Hall (PMed)

Coldham Hall. Built in 1574 by Robert Rookwood. It comprises a hall range recessed between two cross-wings, and is approached by a long carriage drive from the north-west. The building is H-shaped, of red brick with brick mullioned and transomed windows. Above the hall all along the house runs a long gallery, off it the former chapel of 1770's. Architectural details in Pevsner (S1)(S4). The service roms of the Hall are to be found in the north-east wing. The culinary offices are described in the 1893 particulars as comprising 'a large brick floor kitchen, a scullery with brick floor, a housekeeper's room, a larder, wood and coal-house, and wc' and that 'outside the house are dairy, coal-house, game larder and other offices, and large cellars below'. To the rear of the north-east winf is a former Roman Catholic chapel, understood to have been uilt in 1794, and for which a date of construction of c.1800 is suggested. The south-west red brick elevation of the chapel frames the garden against the rear of the Hall.
Twinned lodges (gatehouses) are shown at the entrance to the driveway at TL 8585 5610 (in Lawshall parish). Area delineated as mapped on OS 1st ed (S2). ?Avenue lining driveway to NW. Dovecote shown on 1958 6 inch map at TL 8644 5569.
1997: trenched and geophysical survey to SE of Coldham Hall failed to identify any features or deposits earlier than the hall itself. The ditch and bank in the area (moat? - see Med) is now thought likely to represent a formal garden of the late 17th to early 18th century. Details in (S5)(R2).

2014: The Grade II listed stable range was damaged in a fire. A Heritage Impact Statement was produced to support a planning application to restore the range. Store outbuilding to Coldham Hall, mid 19th century. Flint with red brick quoins and parapet gables. Pantiled roof, some tiles glazed. Various 19th century doors. A large central timber-framed bell-turret surmounting the roof, with large clock on 4 faces; the dates 1851 and 1927 painted in roundels within applied half-timbered panels. An open belfry above with exposed bells; copper-covered cupola with ball finial and weathervane. The bell-turret was brought from an outbuilding at Hardwick House, Bury St. Edmunds upon the sale of that estate in 1925 (S6). The stable originally possessed a central door between two high level windows. There remains a brick floor drainage channel, and evidence survives for a high-level plastered ceiling with no hayloft above. As well as the stables is a large coach-house which incrporated groom's accomodation at the southern end. As with the chapel the front was brick with the rear elevation of flint construction with red brick dressings. The coach-house and stable block weere altered c.1871, the hall was also altered at this date. In the second half of the 19th century ther house was lighted with gas supplied from a gasworks at the back of the house (S7).