Hammerton Hall

The house at Hammerton Hall was likely built around 1600, with an east cross-wing added in the 19th century. It is constructed of slobbered rubble with sandstone dressings and a slate roof, and is arranged around an E-plan. The house is two storeys high with an attic.

The front facade is characterised by six-light mullioned windows with an outer chamfer, an inner hollow chamfer, and a hood moulding, flanking the central porch on both floors. The left-hand cross-wing has the remains of a chamfered surround and hood, now containing a modern door and window, and a first-floor window similar to those flanking the porch. The three-light attic window has an ogee head and hood. The west gable has a coping, and the west wall features a large projecting stack with offsets. The right (east) cross-wing has punched quoins, a ground floor window with three large lights, a chamfered stone surround, mullions, and a hood, and a first-floor window similar to the others, but with only three remaining mullions. The attic window is blocked, matching the other wing, and appears to be either reconstructed or a copy. The gabled porch oversails the first floor, displaying a cyma moulding, and a blocked window with 12 lights at the front, and six lights on each return wall, all ovolo-moulded, mullioned and transomed. A five-light attic window, matching those to the wings, is above, with a gable coping. The outer doorway has a moulded Tudor-arched head and hood, while the inner doorway is chamfered and similarly headed. An early door of studded vertical planks remains. The central range of the rear elevation has some double-chamfered windows on both floors, most of which are blocked.

Inside, a doorway in a timber partition with an ogee doorhead and plank door, split horizontally and with early hinges, is located to the left of the passage immediately inside the front door, now partially hidden by a later stair. Other internal walls are comprised of wattle-and-daub panels in timber framing, vertical framed panelling, and square panelling with plain chamfered rails and muntins. The east cross-wing contains softwood beams, while a first-floor doorway leading into it from the central part of the house is of chamfered stone with a Tudor-arched head. The west cross-wing features a wide chamfered fireplace with a segmental head in its front room, along with a door with a deep hollow moulding and Tudor-arched head to a rear room. A spiral stone stair is located in the central section, to the east of the cross-wing. A view from the rear of the house, dating from around 1720, appears in Samuel Buck’s Yorkshire Sketchbook.