Barn Approximately 80 Metres to South West of Eaton Hall

f (5). Eaton Hall, house, outbuildings and bridge, 1 m. S.E. of Leominster church. The House is of two storeys; the walls are of stone and timber-framing and the roofs are slate and tile-covered. The property belonged to the family of Hackluyt, and Leland records that William Hackluyt, who was with Henry V at Agincourt, built a house in the village. The existing building, however, appears to date from about the middle of the 14th century and consisted of a hall with cross-wings at the E. and W. ends; of this the greater part of the hall with the stone solar-wing at the W. end survives, but the screens and the buttery-wing were re-built probably in the 18th century. The extension of this wing, towards the N., was made probably early in the 15th century. At some uncertain period the hall was divided into two storeys and the walls faced with stone; the upper storey of the solar-wing is also a later reconstruction of timber-framing. The W. wing has, at the N. end, a blocked mediæval doorway with chamfered stone jambs and segmental-pointed head; in the W. wall is a window of two rectangular lights, probably also mediæval. Inside the building, the former hall (32 ft. long without the former screenspassage) has an original roof of two main bays, partly concealed by later additions; the main truss (Plate 39) has upper and lower collar-beams, the latter moulded and with long curved braces, perhaps formerly carried down to the ground floor, but now cut back about 3 ft. above it; the upper collar-beam also has curved braces, and the beams above are cut to form a trefoiled opening; each bay has a subsidiary truss with a single upper collar-beam similar to that in the main truss. In the E. wall is a spere-truss, formerly dividing the hall from the screens; it rests on a pair of heavy posts or speres, set 2–3 ft. within the side walls; the general arrangement is similar to that of the main truss, but the head of the arch formed by the main braces is cut into the tie-beam. The truss forming part of the W. wall has plain upper and lower collars and below the latter are studs and braces forming trefoiled ogee heads to the wall-panels. The main purlins are moulded, and above them are two ranges of foiled wind-braces, the lower braces having pierced spandrels to the cusps. To the W. of the main truss are traces of the former louvre of the hall; on the W. of the former opening is a pair of cusped trimmers or rafters resting on the upper purlins and against which the upper wind-braces are stopped. All the timbers are smoke-blackened. The extension of the E. wing has some of its 15th-century framing and ceiling-beams exposed; the roof is of four bays with the middle truss incorporated in a partition; the subsidiary trusses have curved braces below the collars.

The Outbuilding, S.W. of the house, consists of a 17th-century cottage, now stables, and a barn. The timber-framing is mostly exposed, and there is an original chimney-stack with two brick shafts and diagonal nibs on the outer faces; the barn is of three bays. The outbuilding, S. of the house, includes a 17th-century timber-framed barn of three bays.

The Bridge, over the Lugg, S.W. of the house, is of stone and of two spans with round arches and cut-waters both up and down stream; it is of the 17th century or earlier, but the parapets are modern. A stone garden wall, running S. from the house, has remains of a gate and a wall-recess with a four-centred head.

Condition—Of house, good.