Monument record DBN 007 - Crows Hall

Moat - with yards. Square, occupied, isolated, close to parish boundary (S1)(S2).
Roughly rectangular moat with an island of 0.863 acres surrounded by a water- filled ditch. Brick revetting (with ornamental diaperwork and buttresses) to the moated island on the west side and along three-quarters of the south side. Entrance is via a C16 4-arched brick bridge on the west side, then through single storeyed brick gatehouse with octagonal buttresses crowned with decorative pinnacles. A stone tablet above the door arch once bore a carved coat-of-arms (said to have been of the Framlingham family) but is now very eroded. Only a single range of the house survives, set at rightangles to the gatehouse range and on its north side. Built of brick, its west gable end has octagonal corner buttresses terminating in decorative pinnacles and rises sheer from the edge of the moat. This and the south side are decorated with brick diaperwork in a lattice pattern. The north side of the range is inset from the edge of the moat. There was a similar range on the south side of the gatehouse, rising sheer from the moat on the west and south sides. An arched sewer outlet from this demolished range can be seen at the base of the revetting on the west side. The line of the north wall can be seen as a parch mark in a lawn; part of the east wall seems to survive in a garden wall. It is not clear whether there was a third range opposite the gatehouse giving the whole a square courtyard plan. The date of the bulding would seem to be mid C16, either by Francis Framilingham (d.1544) or his son Sir Charles Framlingham (d.1595).
Outside the moat is a courtyard (now partly infilled with modern farm buildings) with a C16 long range (part brick, part timber) containing a barn, court-house and ?lodgings on its south side. Four C16 terracotta plaques with moulded fools' heads are set above a doorway. On the north side of the courtyard is a lightly moated enclosure containing 1.7 acres, which is now a grass paddock with a long linear fishpond on its north side. Entry to this courtyard is via a long avenue composed of four lines of oaks. Site takes its name from the Crow family, owners in the C13. Acquired by the Framlinghams in the late C14 (S3).
See DBN 124 for 2006 evaluation and monitoring results.