Hall House It was the finest in the village, all the archetypal features on display: close-studded walls more oak than plaster, tall hipped roof of Kentish peg-tiles, middle bay set back from jettied wings with dragon beams.
So it was big. No cosy cottage this.
Inside, we stood becalmed in wide, low rooms – a disappointment. Could we see upstairs?
And there it was, above the late-built floor, a mighty frame like some great butchered bone, its crown-post unmistakably a cross.
It seemed to breathe and speak, this work of more than carpentry, and urge us to atone for vain improvidence else rue our loss.
Colin Davies Colin Davies is an architect and writer.