Wardley Hall

Wardley Hall

House, circa 1500 but with considerable rebuilding in the 19th and 20th centuries. The building is timber-framed with a graduated stone slate roof, though later sections are constructed in brick with stone dressings. The plan is quadrangular with two storeys, including a gatehouse and an open hall which was floored over in 1551.

The south elevation consists of five bays with gabled west and east ranges projecting to either side, and a two-storey bay window to the former hall which is itself gabled and projects further still. The gabled ranges and bay window are of brick with mullion and mullion-and-transom windows dating from 1895 or 1903. The central section is timber-framed on a stone plinth, featuring a Tudor-arched cross-passage door with mullioned overlight. To the left is a three-light double-transomed hall window, a four-light window to the right, and restored three, two and three-light windows to the first floor. The mullions throughout are ovolo-moulded timber, though many are replacements or restorations. A massive hall chimney stack projects to the left, constructed of narrow bricks and possibly dating from when the hall was originally floored over.

Much of the west and east elevations date from the 1895 restoration, which was carried out by the architects Douglas and Fordham. The north-west corner was extended at this time. A projecting stone stack stands on the west side. The gatehouse is dated "RHD 1625", though while its form relates to the original structure, much of the external fabric is later. Chimney stacks of 19th-century date are distributed across the building—ridge stacks and projecting brick stacks, many with decorative clustered forms.

The gatehouse entrance is segmental-arched and gives access to the courtyard, which is largely timber-framed and partly of early date. The uprights are closely set and diagonally braced. Many of the ovolo-moulded timber mullion windows in the courtyard are original, though others are not. The cross-passage door is on the opposite side of the courtyard, and a staircase projects into the space at the south-west corner.

Interior

A large proportion of the timber-framed structure survives in the south, west and north ranges. The great hall contains moulded principal posts supporting moulded beams and chamfered joists of the inserted floor, together with a 19th-century fireplace. In the room above, the original roof trusses can be seen, featuring moulded arch-braces which replaced tie-beams probably at the time when the floor was inserted. Wind braces to purlins and a ceiling with moulded timber members are visible. Three Tudor-arched doors open from the hall to the cross-passage (two blocked, the central one 19th century), and two similar openings on the opposite side formerly gave access to service rooms.

The principal apartment to the west has heavily moulded posts with moulding continuing via curved braces to the floor beams, which in turn support moulded joists. The room contains 19th or 20th-century panelling. The west range contains cambered tie-beam trusses which are moulded, have king posts, and carved roundels on the underside at the centre. The grand staircase, dated 1630, features a 17th-century style moulded handrail, cannon-like balusters, and massive finials on the newel posts. Above it is a gallery with barleysugar twist balusters. The east range is considerably altered but contains a fine plaster ceiling of the early 19th century (possibly 1818) with rinceau and husk garland motifs, and an Adam-style fire surround. A niche in this range preserves the skull of Ambrose Barlow, who was martyred in 1641.

The building stands on a moated site whose history can be traced back to 1292. Wardley Hall is an important survival of the open-hall courtyard-type house which, despite rebuilding, still retains its original form and much of its original fabric. It illustrates the transition from open-hall to two-storey living in the 16th century.