Frickley Hall

Country house, built between 1722 and 1785 for Anthony Wharton, and substantially rebuilt in the early 19th century. Constructed of deeply-coursed, dressed sandstone with a graduated Westmorland slate roof. The main house is two storeys and has a 2:3:2 bay arrangement, with an additional bay set back to the left and a double service wing to the rear right; the principal entrance is on the right return. The garden front is symmetrical and features a three-bay, pedimented projection with a French window within an architrave, a pulvinated frieze, and a consoled cornice. A ground-floor sill band runs along the front, and there are two-pane sashes to the windows; bays 6 and 7 have sashes with glazing bars, and bays 2 and 6 have consoled cornices. A first-floor band sits beneath the sashes and bays 2, 4, and 6 have shaped sill blocks. The set-back bay to the left has a French window. A modillioned cornice tops the building, and the keyed oeil-de-boeuf in the pediment has radial glazing bars. The roof is hipped, with two multiple-flue stacks extending behind the ridge, and a smaller stack to the left. The rear of the house shows a twin-gabled service wing, indicating a rebuilding of an earlier range constructed from local stone. The right return entrance front has five bays and includes a glazed Doric porch with a pediment, alongside sashes with glazing bars. A service wing is set back on the right.

The central entrance hall features a cantilevered stone staircase with fluted, square balusters, along with landing archivolts and matching balustrades. A rectangular lantern has a coffered central panel. Interior doors are six-panelled, with a central flute, and some have Arts and Crafts copper fingerplates. The library contains a Delft-tile fireplace with a pedimented bookcase above, and a ceiling frieze depicting roses and thistles. Other rooms feature wood fireplaces; the dining room fireplace has a pastoral scene and festoons, while the sitting room fireplace is flanked by twin Doric columns. On the first floor, an Arts and Crafts fireplace in a room to the far left of the garden front has a beaten copper surround with a Vitruvian scroll beneath a depiction of an ancient ship sailing towards a setting sun; the overmantel now features a plain panel with the motto ‘EAST WEST HAME’S BEST’. Contemporary wall cupboards and shelving are also present. Early 19th century cast-iron fireplaces are found in other rooms.