When built, this would have been a single double-height space and where reception and entertaining of visitors of equal social standing would have taken place. The kitchen had been beyond, but that part of the building had been beyond restoration before the rescue.

The more significant item was the smoke hood, an early C16th idea, prior to which the smoke from the 'fire for warmth' would hopefully have gone out at a hole in the ridge. Food preparation would have been done in the kitchen; some actual cooking, especially large joints/carcasses on a spit would have been done here. The next phase of transition was the insertion of a complete 1st floor, typically with beams of very florid moulding at the end of the century.

This is the end-of-the-line for large halls with antecedents dating back to the age of Homer, through eg Stokesay http://www.pbase.com/crisscross/image/141577933 to 'modern' houses