Aston Hall

Cadw's description

Location

Located down slope from the B4385 (N side) close to the valley bottom. Probably a platform site.

History

A timber in the porch is said to have borne a date of 1691 (reported to RCAHMW), but it is possible that the porch was an addition to a somewhat earlier building.

Exterior

Large lobby entry plan house, with short cross wing at W end with a curiously steep pitched roof. 3 bays, 2 full storeys and attic. Projecting storeyed porch opposite brick ridge stack. A second, gable stack at the W end was later incorporated within a masonry service block. Weather treated slate roof. Timber framed; box framing with brick nogging on a rebuilt brick plinth which is low in front and high to the rear. The framing is unusually regular and 6 panels high throughout, except above the gable bressumers of the cross wing where there are cross braces. The porch is box framed and three panels high in the ground storey, while the first storey is close studded and jettied, the jetty bressumer being supported by two substantial consoles. The porch door is modern, 4-panelled with an overlight, above which is a hornless 9 pane sash window. There is a glass conservatory on a brick plinth in front of the W and central bays, entered from the house by French windows. The remaining windows of these bays are mainly modern casements, and there is a small attic dormer above the central bay containing a small casement window. The E bay contains hornless 12 pane sash windows, 2 to each floor. The E end is clad in corrugated iron. The rear elevation mainly contains irregularly spaced 12 pane sash windows with small modern casement windows in the W gable and the masonry range beyond.

Attached to the framing at the rear of the house is a fire mark of the Salop Fire Office.

Interior

No access to the interior at time of inspection (January 1996).

Reason for designation

Listed as a large, relatively unaltered lobby entry house of the C17, the timber framing of which is of exceptional quality. The short cross wing with very steeply pitched roof imparts an unusual form for this region.