Conduit Mouth Approx. 45 Metres North Of Ashton Hall

SD 45 NE THURNHAM

8/196 Conduit mouth approx. 45 metres north of Ashton Hall (Formerly listed with Ashton 1-8-1952 Hall as arch forming entrance of the beck to the fish pond under ASHTON with STODDAY)

GV II

Conduit mouth, 1858, re-using some dressings of c.1600. Squared sandstone blocks. Comprises a stone-lined circular shaft with low coping and iron railings. The walls are carried over a stream by low bridges with segmental arches. On the east side the ground level is lower. Set above the bridge, facing east and flanked by retaining walls, is the upper part of the frontispiece removed from Ashton Hall (q.v.) during C19th rebuilding. It has 2 sets of paired Ionic columns on decorated pedestals supporting an entablature with decorated frieze. Above is a decorative gable and ball finials, now overgrown by ivy and difficult to distingush. Between the columns is an architrave with round head, carved keystone, and impost blocks. It new frames a plaque inscribed: 'These remains were removed from the Old Hall AD 1858'. A drawing by John Weld, in the Lancashire Record Office (DP/386), shows the house from the west in 1835, including the frontispiece.

Listing NGR: SD4614757361