The South Wing

The South Wing ca 1989

Work began on the South Wing in 1988. At its west end is the south face of the last Georgian addition, the middle section is mainly from the seventeenth century, while the east end has been so much altered to be of indeterminate provenance. Some motivation for giving priority to the South Wing was that until this time the person entrusted with caretaking duties was Bernard who lived in a caravan on the front car park.

On site accomodation was required for a caretaker/steward now that the Hall was in a fit condition to hold events. A kitchen was also needed to service a tea-room and this was created, a modest galley kitchen at this stage to the left of the black door in the picture above.

Some of the best of the older buildings are in the South Wing, notably the Gallery - above the kitchen - and the old domestic hall, which is single storey and is to the right of the black door. Both were in poor condition.

The gallery shown on the left in April 1984 needed a lot of work, but has been transformed so that today (right hand picture) it is one of the finest rooms in the Hall.

The domestic hall had been used as the kitchens in Victorian times and includes a cast iron bread oven as well as the cooking fire. It is usually known as the Victorian Kitchen but it is much older than that, dating from the seventeenth century.

The brickwork notably around the chimneys was in poor condition in 1988 and considerable rebuilding was required before it became recognisable as a possible Victorian Kitchen.

Before any of this work could be done it was necessary to reroof a large part of the wing. This is seen from the south in the left hand picture and from inside the Hall yard on the right. On this picture can be seen the evidence of the damage done by John Averill, who opened the wall of the domestic hall to park his lorries inside.