Bewsey Old Hall

Bewsey Old Hall

A hall surviving as a fragment of a much larger medieval structure, with origins documented from the 13th century. The present building dates from the late 16th century, 17th century, 19th century and early 20th century, having been restored and partially rebuilt in the late 20th century.

The building is constructed of stone-dressed small brown brick in irregular English garden wall bond beneath grey slate roofs. It is L-shaped in plan with a projecting south cross-wing. An Edwardian facsimile Tudor porch in stone has been added to the north end, a two-storey structure replacing prison-nailed double doors that formerly existed here.

The fenestration of the lower two storeys on the east front represents an Edwardian replacement in late 16th-century manner, itself replacing previously inserted Georgian windows. Each wing of the lower storey has two full-height openings; the second storey has two six-pane facsimile casements to each wing. The third storey retains restored windows of early 17th-century type with recessed mullions and transomes. The front of the cross-wing has eight lights returning as a half bay window to the north side with three lights; the north wing has a four-light mullioned and transomed window. A stepped flush-mullioned window to the former attic in the cross-wing contains one upper light and three lower lights.

The south side of the cross-wing displays a three-light recessed mullioned and transomed window to the lower storey with a four-light mullioned window to its left. Stone quoins suggest the three-light window replaces a similar opening. A brick label moulding runs above the four-light window, with a fragment of the left end of a label visible above blocked quoins. The second storey has two four-light recessed mullioned windows; the third storey has two four-light recessed mullioned and transomed windows. The front two metres of the cross-wing are slightly later in date than the remainder. Moulded stone strings mark the first and second floors to the front and older part of the cross-wing's side. Part of the original stone plinth survives. The cross-wing formerly had a south-east corner stair turret, now demolished, evidenced by a blocked window-opening on the second storey and a blocked doorway on the third storey between the wing and the former turret position. The gable is finished with cyma stone coping and a ball finial. A brick chimney on the ridge of the north wing, positioned opposite the north wall of the cross-wing, contains five separated diagonal flues.

The north end-gable features a blocked skew-back arched sash-window opening on each of the two lower storeys and a five-light recessed mullioned and transomed window with lattice leads on the third storey. The gable is coped and finished with a ball finial.

The porch mentioned above replaced the prison-nailed doors; the window space above contains recessed mullioned lights and leaded glazing of polygonal and square panes.

A single-storey kitchen wing south of the main building, linked by a passage, dates from the 19th century and has been restored and embellished in the late 20th century, with fabric kept in keeping with the main structure.

Interior

A Victorian stair of one flight with winders at its foot occupies the north wing. A broad blocked 18th-century basket-arched opening at the rear of the cross-wing is now positioned against the east wall of Bewsey Old Hall Farmhouse. The second-storey room in the north wing contains two Tudor-arched openings to the cross-wing; the embrasures and chamfers suggest that the cross-wing was the earlier or "interior" chamber. The wall between the wings is one metre thick. An oak stud wattle-and-daub partition divides the front and rear parts of the cross-wing, with one ovolo beam above each room. Painting in 16th and 17th-century style survives on plaster reveals. The third storey contains an altered oak roof structure. Fragments of painting remain in the rear room and in fireplace reveals. Considerable internal reconstruction has been undertaken in modern brick during late 20th-century restoration.