Hankelow Hall

Hankelow Hall is a country house dating from the early 18th century, with alterations circa 1755 by William Baker. It is constructed of red random bond brick with ashlar dressings. The main front is symmetrical, featuring ten bays. Ashlar quoins mark the corners, and pilaster strips rise to a strikingly high parapet, ramped at the corners with ashlar quoins, ball finials, and an ashlar coping. A central pedimental gable contains a blind round-headed stilted arch with an ashlar surround, projecting keystone, and springers. Stone bands delineate the ground and first floors, and an ashlar string course sits between the second storey and the parapet. A central, likely 19th-century, flat-roofed porch with four debased Ionic columns and a simplified entablature fronts the house. Behind the porch is a central double doorway with a moulded surround, with narrow sash windows flanking it. The ground floor windows are 3 x 4 panes with stone sills and flat arched heads, recessed sash boxes, and reflect Baker's remodelling. Some remnants of tuck-pointing simulating Flemish bond survive, suggesting it may have extended to other floors and fronts. The first floor has ten windows of 3 x 4 panes with thick glazing bars and exposed sash boxes, stone sills, and flat arched heads. The second floor mirrors this design with smaller, similarly styled windows. A chimney stack is visible on the left hand return. A canted bay window with central French windows and a flight of steps (the top stone inscribed “GWC 1867”) is present on the right return at ground floor level. A single ground floor window to the left shows the probable form of the original entrance front openings, with a 3 x 5 pane sash. The left return has two first floor windows of 3 x 4 panes, and two windows of 2 x 4 panes to the second floor. The left hand return is of C20 random bond brick with one second floor window at right. The rear elevation has stone quoins, a ramped parapet, and window openings, some at mezzanine level, are randomly dispersed and have basket-arched heads. During a 1985 survey the interior was boarded up due to persistent vandalism, but had previously revealed panelled rooms, 18th-century 2-panel doors, and 18th-century stone and wood fire surrounds.