Paull Holme Tower

PAULL HOLME TOWER

Tower house built in the mid to late 15th century for the Holme family, with major restorations undertaken in 1871 for Colonel Bryn Holme. The tower is constructed of banded red and blue brick laid in English bond, with original sections displaying blue brick header courses. Limestone ashlar provides dressings throughout, with other details formed in moulded brick. The building is rectangular on plan, comprising 3 stages marked by external chamfered brick set-backs with ashlar blocks at the angles, rising to 2 storeys above a basement, with a parapet wall walk.

The first stage contains a 4-centred-arched entrance on the south side with 2 hollow-chamfered orders and an internal portcullis slot, alongside a narrow blocked pointed door. The west side features a narrow window with chamfered segmental-pointed reveal and a blocked opening with inserted timber lintel to its right. The north side displays a damaged square-headed opening, possibly inserted, whilst the east side has a narrow chamfered segmental-pointed window.

The second stage includes a blocked doorway on the south side with a mutilated head and inserted timber lintel, together with a small blocked square opening to the left. The west side has a central opening, blocked below, containing an inserted (probably 19th-century) pointed ashlar 2-light window with foiled Y-tracery, moulded mullions and reveal, beneath a fragmentary hoodmould. Above this sits a rectangular recessed panel with an ashlar head and chamfered brick reveal, containing an ashlar relief tablet bearing a tilted shield displaying the arms of Holme quartered with those of Wasteneys, flanked by 3 roses. The north side shows a narrow chamfered segmental-pointed window with a square-headed loop to the left, whilst the east side has a 4-centred-arch window with chamfered reveal and an inserted square-headed 2-light ashlar window with chamfered mullion and reveal.

The third stage features blocked twin segmental-pointed windows on the south and west sides with roll-moulded reveals beneath triangular-headed tile hoodmoulds. The north side has a similar window with chamfered reveals, and the east side displays a central door with a damaged sill and arched head, with a small blocked chamfered segmental-pointed window to its left. Chamfered brick corbels support a projecting parapet, originally embattled but now ruinous, with a single ridge-coped merlon remaining on the east side.

Interior

The basement is elliptical and barrel-vaulted. The south side contains a pair of arched recesses, one with a chamfered arch. The west side has a pair of chamfered arched recesses, one with a stepped reveal to a blocked inserted opening and the other with a window in a hollow chamfered reveal. The north side features a fireplace with a damaged arch and chamfered arched reveal to a damaged opening. The east side contains arched recesses to a garderobe and to a window in a hollow chamfered reveal, and a segmental-arched door leading to a mural staircase in the east wall. This staircase has stone treads and a tunnel vault, with a splayed reveal to a blocked outer door at its foot and a stepped reveal to a blocked side window.

The first floor's south side has a flattened triangular-headed chamfered fireplace flanked by single-arched recesses, an arched doorway to a corner lobby at the foot of the upper stairs to the left, and a blocked 4-centred-arched door in the outer wall. The west side shows a full-width tripartite recess with a damaged central chamfered arched section (containing the 2-light ashlar window) flanked by low side recesses. The north side has a pair of arched recesses and an arched stepped reveal to a window. The east side displays a 4-centred-arched door to the lower staircase, a doorway beneath an inserted timber lintel leading into an L-shaped mural chamber with a loop in a splayed reveal and a garderobe with a window and ashlar-lined hatch, and a slightly-recessed section to the right with a segmental-pointed doorway to the upper mural staircase, with a projecting wall section above carried on 3 chamfered corbels. The mural staircase in the east wall has a blocked window and a damaged outer opening at the second floor landing.

The second floor lacks a floor, and original features are partly obscured by 19th-century plaster. The south side shows traces of blocked segmental openings, probably recesses and a window reveal. The west side has a central arched recess with a stepped window reveal flanked by tall narrow arched recesses. The north side, with 19th-century patching, displays a wide recess and a small square recess. The east side has a damaged door to the landing. Throughout the interior, recesses have either segmental or segmental-pointed arches. The east mural staircase continues to the ruinous parapet and wall walk, with a section of low arched inner recess on the south side.

Historical Context

The tower formed part of a larger moated house and was probably attached at the north end of a hall block. The heraldic arms displayed on the west face post-date the marriage in 1438 of Elizabeth Wasteneys and John Holme, for whom the tower may have been built. It represents one of the most important medieval brick buildings in the Humberside-Yorkshire area. The building has suffered seriously from neglect. It is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, County Number 199.