Rufford Old Hall

RUFFORD LIVERPOOL ROAD SD 41 NE 7/11 Rufford Old Hall 11.10.1968 GV I

Manor house of the Hesketh family of Martholme and Rufford, now National Trust property. Late C15 hall (restored), with wing dated 1662 at 1st floor; addition to this dated 1821 on rainwater heads. Timber-framed hall with external stone chimney, wing of handmade brick with stone quoins, all with stone plinth and stone slate roofs. Probably originally H-plan but west wing removed and east wing rebuilt 1662 and 1821. Box-framed open hall of 7 bays, with screens passage at east end, semi-octagonal oriel at west end of north side, the north front decorated with closely-set studs below the rail, quatrefoil panels and windows above it, coved eaves; 4-centred arched doorway with carved spandrels; oriel almost fully glazed with wooden mullion and transom windows; restored lantern on roof (probably in place of former smoke louvre); west end has 2 doorways (originally to west wing); south side of posts and studs, has large stone chimney stack, three large 8-light wooden mullion and transom windows. At east end between hall and wing are C19 gabled bays in style matching the hall. East wing of 1662 extends northwards, is single depth, 5 bays, 2½ storeys (different brickwork above 1st floor), almost symmetrical; has a doorway offset slightly right of centre, 4 windows at ground floor, 5 at 1st floor, and 4 large gabled dormers, all these windows with segmental relieving arches over them, all with diamond lattice glazing, and all crosswindows except those in the dormers, which are 2-light casements; between the 2nd and 3rd windows at 1st floor is a plaque carved with the Hesketh double-headed eagle, a label above it and the date 1662 below it. Rear of this wing has inter alia a square 4-stage embattled stair tower with a doorway at ground floor and a 3-light mullioned window with a label on each floor above, coupled with an embattled chimney stack; 1821 addition to the south in matching style and materials; added service wing at north end. Interior of hall, with 5 hammerbeam roof trusses, spere truss, 5 service doorways, and a free-standing carved oak screen, is "of an exuberance of decoration matched nowhere else in England" (Pevsner): for details see "References" (below). Interior of wing has a large segmental-arched stone fireplace, stopped 1/4-round moulded beams on both floors, cross-corner fireplace at 1st floor. References: VCH Lancs VI pp. 123-126; Pevsner; P. Fleetwood-Hesketh Rufford Old Hall (National Trust, reprinted 1985); and Rev. W.G. Procter "The Manor of Rufford and the Ancient Family of the Heskeths" Hist.Soc.Lancs. and Cheshire, 23, 1907, pp. 91-118.

Listing NGR: SD4631816004