Togston Hall (Northern Area Office Of British Coal Opencast Executive)

Togston Hall

House. The oldest part is probably a 16th-century bastle, marked by a reset datestone inscribed "1546". Remodelling and the addition of a stair-wing are probably dated by a doorhead inscription reading "S 16 T F 85". An east range was added in the mid-18th century. Major additions were made in the late 18th century, including a new front block, possibly designed by William Newton, and a west extension to the bastle. Some alterations were carried out in the early 20th century.

The 16th and 17th-century parts are constructed of large irregular rubble with roughly-shaped quoins. The east range and west extension are of squared stone, while the front block is ashlar except for roughly-squared stone on its east side. The roofs are Welsh slate with stacks rebuilt in brick. The building follows an irregular H-plan: the original house, east range and west extension form the north cross-wing, with the stair and kitchen in the centrepiece and the front block containing the main reception rooms as the south cross-wing.

South elevation: The front block is two storeys, five bays, and symmetrical, with plinth, sill and first-floor bands. Two steps lead up to a central door that is partly glazed, set in a surround with attached columns and pediment. Twelve-pane sash windows light the façade. A moulded eaves cornice is carried as an open pediment over the centre bay. The hipped roof has two ridge stacks rebuilt on old bases. Set back to the right behind a garden wall is a three-bay east range. A 20th-century porch was added on the far left, providing access to a doorway with a reset "1546" lintel, a boarded door and sash windows with glazing bars. The right end gable is coped with an end stack.

The right return has similar sashes, some renewed, with one trompe-l'oeil example. The left return is similar to the south front, except for one trompe-l'oeil window. Set back on the left is the stair wing, lit by a Venetian window with an intersecting head. The projecting far-left bay is the west extension of the bastle, featuring a plinth, late 18th-century sashes, a moulded eaves cornice and hipped roof. On its right return are bastle end quoins and a blocked first-floor slit.

Rear elevation: The right part is the original bastle with a boulder plinth, a short west extension and a projecting stair wing. To the left of the wing are 12-pane sashes under timber lintels and a blocked slit at mid-height. To the right are bastle end quoins. The wing has 18th-century windows, a coped gable with moulded kneelers and a small apex stack, with chamfered lights on the returns, two of which are blocked. The left part is the rear of the east range, lit by casements.

Interior: The front entrance hall features a moulded cornice and a Venetian screen to the stair. Ground-floor rooms have corniced door surrounds, 19th-century marble fireplaces and enriched cornices — the east room displays a harebell pattern, the west room fluting and dentils. A dog-leg open-string stair has stick balusters, a ramped moulded handrail and newels. Original fireplaces survive in the bedrooms. Fielded-panel doors and shutters are found throughout. Twin segmental-arched fireplaces exist in the former kitchen. Extensive cellars with brick segmental vaults lie beneath the front block.

The older rear part contains the bastle, which has metre-thick walls and a central 17th-century door on the south side, now converted into a cupboard, with an inscribed lintel. A segmental-arched fireplace is on the ground floor, while 18th-century fireplaces and old beams occupy the first floor. A 4-bay upper-cruck roof with collars and two levels of purlins is above. Wrought-iron grates, dating to the 18th or early 19th century, are present in all fireplaces.

The house belonged to the Smith family from the early 17th century until the 19th century. A medieval tower stood a little to the north-west and was demolished in 1820.