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THE origin of the hall house stems from house-naming conventions in Anglo-Saxon times, explains the team at traditional interior-joinery and kitchen-maker Artichoke. ‘The original hall buildings were meeting places and they usually consisted of four walls, a roof and a single hearth around which to gather. Because of the fire, they usually had very high ceilings, which were often later filled in with floors.’
During the high Middle Ages, great halls existed within every kind of residence, from palaces and castles to merchant houses and farms. In Kent, where there was a strong tradition of timber building, it’s estimated that 2,500 hall houses survive, dating from between 1370 and the 16th century, according
