Description

DEBENHAM
TM 16 SE
4/36 Crow's Hall (including
9/12/55 bridge over moat and
walling lining inner side
of moat to west and
south)
(formerly listed as Craws
Hall together with barn)

GV II*

Manor house. Mid C16 with later C16 alterations. A single range, the west
end against the moat, with gatehouse and bridge to south. Other ranges within
the moat have been lost. Red brick, diaperwork in dark headers to west and
south. Plaintiled roof. 2 storeys and attic. West gable end has octagonal
corner buttresses terminating in pinnacles with star tops, one with moulded
brick enrichment. Parapet gable. A single C20 reproduction window at each
level, the attic window hoodmoulded. This gable end was re-faced in later
C16. South front. Good original 6-light upper window with old diamond-leaded
glass, 2 square-leaded ground floor windows of c.1700 under segmental arches.
Blocked original doorway close to east gable end. C19 2-storey addition has
stack with 2 tall octagonal shafts. North front. 2 upper windows in original
openings; other openings altered. One C18 window under segmental arch. 2
stacks set against outside wall, that to west partly rebuilt C20. Later
brickwork at west end where another wing adjoined. To south, a one-storey
gatehouse range: flat parapet with copings; one C20 window as west front of
main house. Gatehouse has octagonal buttresses with pinnacles; 4-centred
brick arch with hoodmould, above which is a square panel containing a much-
weathered stone tablet, once carved with the Gawdy family arms. Entrance is
approached by a contemporary 4-arched bridge over the moat; flat parapet with
brick copings, splayed at west end. Diapered brickwork lines inner face of
moat to west and south. Interior. Fine late C16 stair in 3 flights around a
square well, fully enclosed by 2 tiers of heavy, turned balusters; circular
newel posts; oak treads, the lower flight solid. Partition wall against lower
flight has close studding and serpentine bracing. Attic stair is plain, in
two flights. Several wide 4-centre arched doorways with leaf-carved spandrels
and applied moulding above. Several old doors, 3 on first floor of an unusual
pattern, with 28 long narrow moulded panels. C17 panelling along side passage
on upper floor. Main ground floor room has exposed ceiling beams: these
suggest that a third of the room has been lost to the adjacent cellar. For
photographs see Cautley, Suffolk Houses, 1977, pp.149, 258.

Listing NGR: TM1923462827

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17540198

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

• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)