Horham Hall is a late medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 hall

Hall (concept)

The meanings attributed to the word hall have varied over the centuries, as social practices have changed. The word derives from the Old Teutonic , where it is associated with the idea of covering or concealing...

 in Broxted

Broxted

Broxted is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district, in the county of Essex, England. It is located northeast of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire and is northwest from the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the district of Uttlesford and in the parliamentary constituency...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Today Horham Hall is the home of novelist Evelyn Anthony

Evelyn Anthony

Evelyn Anthony is the pen name of Evelyn Ward Thomas, a British female writer.-Life and work:In her youth during the Second World War she was educated largely at home, rather than at school...

 and her husband Michael Ward-Thomas.

Design

All of the basic features of a great hall

Great hall

A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, nobleman's castle or a large manor house in the Middle Ages, and in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. At that time the word great simply meant big, and had not acquired its modern connotations of excellence...

 are present: a screens passage (above the porch in the plan); a dais

Dais

Dais is any raised platform located either in or outside of a room or enclosure, often for dignified occupancy, as at the front of a lecture hall or sanctuary....

; a bay window (not essential but very common). The main staircase is at the dais end and the hall is the full height of the two storey house.