Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Dated 1611, almost totally destroyed.
E. Rose (NAU).

Remains of Melton Hall
October 1951. Listed, Grade II.
Listing Description:
Dated 1611 (White Directory, 1883). E plan brick house ruinous and overgrown with some walls standing to about 15 feet. Pilasters flank main ovolo moulded door of 2 orders. Polygonal angle buttresses on side wings.
Chamfered brick surrounds to window openings with provision for chamfered mullions. Remains of a canted bow window to east side wing.
Information from (S1).
H. Mellor (HES), 26 June 2017.

Melton Hall Dovecote
April 1983. Listed, Grade II.
Listing Descritpion:
C18 brick octagonal dovecote with a conical plaintiled roof with an open pyramidal top. Opposing doors (one blocked) with diagonally slatted windows above. Brick nesting boxes.
Information from (S2).
H. Mellor (HES), 26 June 2017.

Photograph of about 1865 (S3) in file shows house was indeed E shaped. The angle turrets were on the corners of the wings. Each wing has a canted bay in its end wall and a dormer in a hipped roof above. Porch has pedimented entrance and first floor window, but most odd hipped attic storey. Two bays to each side of porch, the outer bay in each case projecting, but not as far as the wings. End and rear chimneystacks. This suggests the house of 1611 had its upper storey altered and bay windows added at a later date - the windows not in the canted bays are wooden cross.
To the right of the photograph is a very large extension, 18th/19th century.
E. Rose (NLA), 4 January 1993.

See notes in file by member of the public [1] that hall was abandoned in late 19th century after plans to modernise it came to nothing; and story of tunnel to an outbuilding.
E. Rose (NLA), 1 February 1993.

22 July 1993. NLA aerial photography.
Photographs taken of grounds of Melton Hall - dovecote and parts of ruined hall are visible.
S. Massey (NLA), 31 January 2001.

May 2013-May 2014. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of new dwelling on former site of Stable Cottage.
This work also exposed various brick footings associated with the later, 18th- and 19th-century phases of construction at Melton Hall. The remains observed included the substantial footings of a late 19th-century east-to-west aligned service block. Various other structures associated with this this phase of activity were also identified, including brick-built culverts, an ornamental pond and cobbled yard surfaces.
See report (S4) and NHER 61884 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 26 October 2016.

Inspection. January 2014
Dovecote. Octagonal brick building with conical plain tile roof and a glover at peak covered with a pyramidal roof. The glover has open sides which may have been filled originally with dove holes. Original door at one side blocked and an other doorway inserted opposite. The upper level of the brick nesting boxes have been removed and blocked up probably in order to consolidate the structure. The glover has been closed off with boards.
S. Heywood (HES). 27th January 2014.

Monument Types

• TUNNEL (Unknown date)
• GREAT HOUSE (17th Century to 19th Century - 1611 AD to 1880 AD)
• DOVECOTE (17th Century to 19th Century - 1700 AD to 1880 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

• Listed Building
• Listed Building
• SHINE

Sources and further reading

Related records

Find out more...

• Parish Summary: Great Melton (Parish Summary)