Platt Hall

Platt Hall is a large house, now a museum, built around 1764, possibly by Thomas Lightoler, for John and Deborah Carill Worsley. It is constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond, with sandstone dressings and hipped slate roofs. The house comprises a rectangular main block linked to east and west pavilions. It is designed in a Palladian style.

The main block is three storeys and has a symmetrical 2:3:2 bay facade. A three-bay pedimented centre slightly projects, featuring a stone plinth, a string course to the ground floor, a sill band to the first floor, a modillioned stone cornice, and a blocking course. A tetrastyle Ionic porch, approached by three shallow steps (now with a ramp to the right), has a pulvinated frieze and a moulded cornice, sheltering a square-headed doorway flanked by windows. The first and ground floors have 12-pane sashed windows, while the second floor has 9-pane sashes; the centre window on the first floor has a pedimented architrave, and the centre window on the second floor has a shouldered architrave, with the remaining windows having flat, gauged brick arched heads. There are two chimneys on each side wall and one on the ridge. Connecting links each feature a pilastered round-headed arcade with imposts, a central round-headed doorway with a panelled door and fanlight, and round-headed windows, all with radiating glazing bars. The pavilions mirror this design with similar arcaded ground-floor windows, a string course and 9-pane sashes to the first floor.

The rear of the main block incorporates low 6-pane sashes on the ground floor, a round-headed blank arch centrally containing a large Venetian stair window, and other windows similar to those at the front. The east pavilion, originally a coach house, exhibits sandstone piers between the arches and two circular pitching holes above.

The interior features a fine elliptical imperial stone staircase with an elaborate wrought-iron balustrade and a landing with a Venetian screen composed of Corinthian columns in antis. A pilastered first-floor corridor includes an entablature, round-headed arches, a pedimented doorway with a moulded plaster tympanum, other doorways with decorated architraves, and octagonal panels. A particularly fine first-floor dining room exhibits Rococo stucco panels, a moulded plaster cornice, and other decorative details.