Startforth Hall

Startforth Hall is a substantial house, likely dating back to the 16th or early 17th century, with significant remodelling in 1747 for the Feilding family. A north-west wing was later converted from an outbuilding in the early 19th century. The building is constructed of stone, rendered and pebbledashed, with cut dressings, and has graduated stone slate roofs. Its plan features a main block with three gabled wings to the rear, the northern wing being the longest and connecting to the north-west wing.

The east elevation has a basement plinth and two storeys, presenting a symmetrical façade of five bays, with a slightly set-back two-bay wing to the right. A twelve-step approach, the lower section having curtailing, leads to a central half-glazed door within an elaborate eared and shouldered architrave, featuring a pulvinated frieze, a cornice, and an open pediment bearing the Feilding arms and motto 'JE VIES EN ESPRANCE’. The elevation is punctuated by twelve-pane sash windows in architraves. Coped gables sit on corniced footstones, and stepped-and-corniced end and ridge stacks are present. The wing has a two-panel door within a raised stone surround, and features a sixteen-pane sash to the right and twelve-pane sashes above; all windows have tooled-and-margined lintels and sills. A coped gable and end stack complete the wing.

The right return displays a cellar opening within an architrave; the rear wing exhibits a tripartite sash window, and a first-floor twelve-pane sash in an architrave. The left return shows a renewed twelve-pane sash to the ground floor and two chamfered attic lights. Similar windows are found on the rear wing.

The three-gabled rear elevation includes a small, chamfered window below a Venetian stair window with a radial head within a stone surround. Other features include twelve-pane sashes and two two-light, chamfered mullioned windows in the gables. An old fluted lead rainwater head is also visible.

The interior of the hall is notable for a Tuscan screen dated 1747 in the entrance hall, featuring a moulded cornice, a guilloche dado rail, and a tiled floor inscribed with the Feilding motto. The drawing room contains reset 17th-century panelling. The kitchen, located in the rear wing, has a large, chamfered segmental fireplace. A prominent open-well cut-string stair is distinguished by column-on-vase balusters, a moulded and fluted newel, a wreathed and ramped handrail, and a curtail step.

The stair hall contains a panelled dado, a stair window with classical detailing, a segmental arch at the stairhead, and a ceiling cornice with egg-and-dart moulding. A central bedroom features a doorcase with an eared architrave, a pulvinated frieze, and a broken pediment, while the fireplace has a pedimented overmantel. A south bedroom also showcases reset 17th-century panelling. The cellar, partly barrel-vaulted, retains old brick wine bins.