Borwick Hall

Borwick Hall is a house, now a residential centre, largely dating to the late 16th century, with remains from the 14th century. It is constructed of rubble, partly roughcast, with sandstone dressings and a slate roof. The main front faces southwest and has seven bays. Bays 1 to 5 date from 1595 and are two storeys with attics, featuring mullioned and transomed windows. A one-bay cross-wing is located to the left. Above the central bay of the hall is a gabled stone attic dormer. A projecting gabled porch of two and a half storeys stands to the right; the outer doorway has a semi-circular cyma-moulded head and a moulded impost band. The inner doorway features a studded oak door. Above the outer door is a coat of arms added in 1854 by Mr. George Marton, who purchased the house. To the right is a four-storey peel tower from the 14th century, the floors of which do not align with those of the 16th-century wings. It has a battlemented parapet and late 16th-century windows, transomed except for the lowest semi-basement floor, which has simple mullions. A one-bay gabled projecting wing of three storeys with an attic and mullioned windows is located to the right of the peel tower; this wing is said to be earlier than the 1595 wing.

The front of the house has two continuous drip courses, interrupted by the peel tower, along with gable copings, kneelers, and finials. The right-hand return wall has two chimney stacks corbelled out at first-floor level. At the rear of the peel tower is a wing running northeast, similar in style to the 1595 wing, but believed to be earlier. At right angles to this wing is a narrower wing forming a courtyard with the rear of the hall and featuring a projecting timber-framed gallery.

The hall’s interior is lined with square 17th-century panelling. The fireplace is said to be a reconstruction and features a four-centred head with the initials ‘RB’. A moulded stone doorway leads to the front room of the cross-wing, which has a fireplace with a four-centred head and spandrel decoration. The main room of the rear wing, once the kitchen, has a wide chamfered segmental-arched fireplace. A stone closed-well staircase rises from the rear of the hall to the attic. At attic level, a platform above the closed well, extending to form a balustrade, is supported by alternate narrow and wide columns and bears a coping inscribed 'Alixander Brinsmead Mason 1595'. Close-studded timber-framed partitioning is visible at first and attic floor levels in several rooms.