Moss Hall, Audlem, is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

north-west of

Audlem Audlem ( ) is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cheshire, North West England. In 2021, it had a population of 1,832. The largest village in southern Cheshire, Audlem is approximately south of Nantwich, just north of t ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade I-

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The Hall overlooks the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, sometimes nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. It is the modern name for a part of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company network. In the leisure age, two of the branches of that netwo ...

. Moss Hall was built in 1616 for Hugh Massey, then owned by Edward Legh of Baguley Hall. It is

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

with rendered infill, and close studded with a middle rail to both floors. It is in two storeys with attics, and has a plain tile roof. The entrance front has five bays with four

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s. The house is nearly symmetrical, is E-shaped, and is set on an

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

. In its centre is a two-storey

d porch wing, which is a later addition. The first floor is

jettied Jettying (jetty, jutty, from Old French ''getee, jette'') is a building technique used in medieval timber framing, timber-frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of incr ...

and supported on carved brackets. It has been described as "a surprisingly complete example of a gentleman's house of the early 17th century".

References

Houses completed in 1616 Country houses in Cheshire Grade I listed houses Timber framed buildings in Cheshire 1616 establishments in England Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire {{UK-listed-building-stub

See also

References