Staley Hall And Adjoining West Wing

Staley Hall and its adjoining west wing are a manor house dating to the late 16th century, with subsequent alterations in the 17th and 18th centuries. The original timber-framed structure is now largely clad in stone. The front is of squared rubble with watershot detailing to the rear, and the roof is covered in graduated stone slate. The house is arranged around a central hall with a screens passage, an upper east crosswing, a west service crosswing, a two-storey porch, and a long two-storey shippon/service wing extending to the west. The facade is imposing and near-symmetrical, featuring three large gables (the central one and the two crosswings), separated by two smaller gables on the projecting porch and bay four, which mirrors the form of the porch. The crosswings have five-light windows, the central bay four-light, bays two and four have three-light windows, and the major gables incorporate two-light windows. These windows all feature double-chamfered cavetto-moulded stone mullions and continuous dripmoulds. Stone quoins are present. A segmental-headed stone arch is above the porch door, and dressed circular features are found on the two minor gables. The rear elevation is less elaborate, with only two gables, a projecting plinth, a blocked screens passage door, a small brick lean-to built on an original stone base, and two-, three-, and four-light double-chamfered stone mullion windows.

Significant portions of the original 16th-century timber frame remain visible within, including main floors, internal walls, and external wall posts. Two arched screens passage doorways also survive. A notable feature is the jettied nature of the first-floor crosswing rooms over the hall. The roof is a queen-post roof with cusped wind bracing, and contains a long room on the attic storey which was later ceiled using curved collars between each pair of rafters, extending across the main range and crosswing.

The C17 shippon/service wing features a similar timber frame, later stone cladding to the service area, and a cambered tie-beam queen-strut roof. The shippon itself has fish-bone king-post roof trusses likely dating from the late 17th or early 18th century.

Historically, Staley Hall was the seat of the De Staveley family from as early as the 14th century. It is considered one of Greater Manchester’s most impressive halls, with limited alteration since the early 18th century, aside from signs of established decay.