Stotley Hall

Stotley Hall is a house dating to circa 1600, situated in Middleton in Teesdale. The building is constructed of coursed squared rubble with millstone grit quoins, ashlar dressings, and a boulder plinth. The roof is of graduated stone flags with stone copings, and includes some corrugated asbestos on the rear outshut. The hall comprises a main range and a left cross wing, along with a one-storey, three-bay addition that projects forward, and a one-storey, two-bay set-back addition to the right. A full-width one-storey outshut runs along the rear.

The main range is two-storeys and two bays wide, while the cross wing projects one bay at both the front and rear. A boarded door is set within a chamfered Tudor-arched surround, with a hollow-chamfered label mould. Similar label moulds feature above the two and three-light windows, which have deeply-chamfered surrounds in large, irregular-block jambs. Most mullions have been lost, and some windows are blocked, though the remaining windows have been fitted with renewed glazing. A half-glazed door is inserted into the windows of the first bay and in the gabled cross wing, beneath a three-light window lacking one mullion. A similar window is situated in the gable peak. There is no window above the original door. Stone surrounds or lintels are present over boarded doors and blocked windows in the right and front left extensions. The roof features three ridge chimneys; those to the left of the first bay and left of the door are ashlar with a cyma reversa string, while the chimney at the right end is of rubble with a plain string. The right gable is topped with large coping slabs. The right return displays a partly-blocked two-light window in the gable peak, and the left return of the cross wing has a blocked three-light window on the first floor, abutting a 20th-century barn. The rear elevation shows some blocked two-light windows.

Inside, the hall contains massive ceiling beams, deeper than they are wide, with chamfered bowed soffits. A rear, semi-circular stone newel stair is present, with boarded doors at its foot and head. The roof structure features collared trusses of substantial timber, with two levels of trenched purlins. A fragment of stucco frieze decoration remains on the first-floor landing. The left wing includes a stair, originally connecting to the main block’s left return but now blocked, consisting of triangular-section wood blocks.