Site Event/Activity record ECH7232 - Heritage Impact Assessment: Churton Hall, Pump Lane, Churton

Heritage impact assessment, compiled in 2023, in support of a proposed application for the restoration and subdivision of Churton Hall, Pump Lane, Churton. Churton Hall is a Grade II listed building located within Churton Conservation Area. Churton Hall, now a farmhouse, is built of timber frame, brick and sandstone, has two storeys, an E-shaped plan, with a substantial lateral brick and sandstone chimney to the east side, likely to be of 17th century date. The central porch has a door of 3 oak boards on heavy wrought iron hinges surmounted by a painted board inscribed WB 1569 EB. Significantly, recently uncovered hidden features include three 15th century cruck frames, one with service doors facing a cross passage, which dendrochronological analysis demonstrates were felled in 1461; these represent the core of an earlier hall that was substantially remodelled and refaced. The building can be read architecturally as two separate and distinct phases – the timber framed section of the hall, and the 19th century addition to the south. Within both areas there are period features, but overall, there is a clear sequencing and hierarchy within the house, reflecting the changing of the social status of the house over many centuries. Documentation from the 1400’s shows that the Berneston (Barnston) family held the Churton estate, and they are credited with building Churton Hall. It was remodelled by William Barnston (1545-1620) and his wife, Elizabeth, ‘WB 1569 EB’. Churton Hall’s significance is derived from its historical association with the Barnston family; the remarkable survival of the cruck frame and wattle and daub, the high quality aesthetic and historic appearance of the 16th century box frame, and other associated features; the walled garden and its association with the manor; the hall’s historical development within Churton village; and its use as a farmstead. (1)