White Lea Hall

White Lea Hall is a 17th-century farmhouse, originally a reduced east-plan hall house, which has undergone significant alterations. It is constructed of painted sandstone rubble with quoins, and has a slate roof. The building now appears roughly T-shaped, although the south wing was demolished in the 19th century. The remaining structure consists of a two-bay hall range, extended to the left in place of a former wing, and a crosswing at the right end, with a later lean-to addition to the rear, extending beyond the wing.

The two and two-and-a-half storeys are characterised by a projecting porch of dressed stone at ground floor, featuring a doorway with a square surround and a slightly-pointed lintel carved with a cross. Above the doorway is a three-light double-chamfered mullion window. The centre of the front has tall 19th-century three-light mullioned windows on each floor, an inserted door to the right, a small single-light window above it, and another window higher up, both with hoodmoulds, possibly representing former firewindows raised to create a “fanlight”. The gable of the wing features double-chamfered mullion windows of three and four lights at first floor, set on slightly different levels, a similar three-light attic window, and another window in the re-entrant angle. The rear gable of the wing retains the remains of a long hoodmould at first floor and a blocked three-light attic window, missing one mullion. All other openings have been altered or inserted. There is a ridge chimney in line with the porch and an altered chimney on the wing.

The interior of the wing retains large chamfered beams with run-out stops, and a recent lateral partition has been removed. Historically, the building belonged to the Catterall family of Little Mitton, passing to the Catholic Keighley family in the late 16th century. The Keighley family lost the property in 1693, and the last member of the family emigrated after participating in the 1715 Jacobite rebellion. The demolished part of the building contained a small Catholic chapel. White Lea Hall is comparable to other altered hall houses in the parish, including Bullsnape Hall, Blake Hall, Ashes, and White Hill farmhouses.