Embleton Hall

Embleton Hall is a house dating to around 1730, originally commissioned for Thomas Embleton. It was extended in the later 18th century and a larger new house was built on the south side of the 18th-century extension in 1893 for Dr. J.C.J. Fenwick. The older part is constructed of squared stone with tooled dressings, while the 1893 addition is of snecked stone with ashlar dressings, all set beneath Welsh slate roofs. The building now has an L-shaped layout. The 1893 house is in a free Tudor style.

The original house, now the west wing, is two storeys high and five bays wide, though not perfectly symmetrical. It features rusticated quoins and a sill band. A doorway is centrally positioned, with a lugged architrave and pulvinated frieze between pilasters that once supported a pedimented hood; it is now blocked and contains a small 12-pane sash window. Other 12-pane sashes, with upper sashes replaced, are set within architraves. A coped gable exists on the left side, featuring moulded kneelers, and stepped-and-corniced left and ridge stacks. A two-bay 18th-century extension to the right is largely hidden by the 1893 building, except for its right-end coped gable with a stepped-and-corniced stack. The left return of the original house shows a blocked first-floor door and an attic window. The rear elevation reveals the original central rear wing with its stepped-and-corniced gable stack.

The west (entrance) front of the 1893 house is two storeys high, with a two-bay plus two-bay arrangement. A twin-gabled right section projects forward, with a porch. A panelled door is set within an architrave, flanked by engaged columns supporting a pediment bearing a phoenix crest, with paterae between the columns. A large mullioned-and-transomed stair window sits above the porch and a projecting chimney breast to the right. Most other windows are plain sashes. Coped gables with moulded kneelers are present. Other elevations display similar detail.

The interior of the original house’s ground floor room to the west retains contemporary panelling and cornice; fluted pilasters frame the fireplace and a former door position opposite, with a domed cupboard featuring shaped shelves located alongside the fireplace. An east ground-floor room contains a large stone fireplace. One bedroom incorporates a panelled wall. The 1893 house retains a largely unaltered interior, including an entrance hall with an open-well stair and a coffered ceiling, as well as marble fireplaces.