For a history of the Emigration Colony run at Hempstead Hall by the Church Army between 1905 and 1950, visit the Church Army section of this site.
Late C16 timber-framed building on an H shaped plan. Built circa 1580 but extensively altered and added to in the C19 and later. Two storeys. The south front has been refaced in brick and the east wing has been rebuilt, with a large addition on the north. The rear is plastered and there is an C18 timber-framed addition to the west wing. Roof tiled, with a large original chimney stack to the centre block with 4 octagonal shafts with moulded bases and star caps, on a square base with 2 sunk panels on each face. The interior has a large hall room with C17 panelling.
From An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex, Volume 1, North West (1916)
Hempstead Hall, house and moat, 1¾ m. E.N.E. of the church. The House is of two storeys with attics; the walls are of weather-boarded timber-framing; the roofs are tiled. It was built c. 1580, probably on an H-shaped plan with the cross-wings at the E. and W. ends. The E. wing has been rebuilt and has a large modern addition, and the W. wing has an 18th-century extension. In the middle block is a large original chimney-stack with two sunk panels, a moulded capping and four octagonal shafts, each with a moulded base and oversailing top. Inside the building, on the ground floor in the E. wing, is some early 17th-century panelling, re-set; and on the first floor is a panelled door of the same date. In the original chimney-stack in the middle block is a fireplace, probably original, with a three-centred head and chamfered jambs, now plastered and painted. In one room is a stop-chamfered ceiling-beam.
The Moat, S. of the present house, encloses an approximately L-shaped island, and is crossed on the N. side by a wooden bridge which retains some old curved braces.
