Lower Old Hall and Lower Old Hall Cottage

Lower Old Hall and Lower Old Hall Cottage

This is a house with a rear wing now converted to a separate cottage, built in 1634 for George Taylor. The building is constructed of coursed squared stone with a stone slate roof.

The structure is T-shaped, comprising two storeys with three gabled bays. The right bay includes a basement; a central rear wing extends to the back. The left bay is set forward, and a two-storey porch stands between the right-hand bays. The building features a chamfered plinth and continuous moulded string course.

The windows throughout have double-chamfered mullions and transoms. The left bay displays a six-light window with king mullion on each floor; the upper window has a hoodmould with rounded terminals flanked by the letters 'G' and 'T'. The central bay contains a nine-light window with an eight-light window above it under a dripmould, both with king mullions. The porch features a moulded Tudor-arched doorway with a lintel dated '1634' and initialled 'GET' (for George and Elizabeth Taylor), carved with three wool sacks. Flanking columns have kinked fluting and bases decorated with lozenges, supporting an entablature. Above the doorway is a moulded pedestal and a three-light window under a dripmould, flanked by gutter spouts, with a gabled parapet over the window (as seen at Fallingworth Hall). The first floor of the left return has a trefoil light; the right return has a chamfered light. Inside the porch are stone benches and a moulded Tudor-arched inner doorway.

The right bay contains a basement, possibly originally a wool shop, accessed by steps down to a Tudor-arched doorway on the left of a three-light window. Above is a single-chamfered three-light ground floor window, and a five-light window under a hoodmould with heart stops and the date '16' '34'. The gables have moulded coping and finials. A corniced stack rises to the ridge of the left bay, and a double stack stands between the right-hand bays.

The rear of the main range continues the plinth and string course. The left bay has a two-light window; the right bay has a two-light window to the left of a three-light window (now a door), with a two-light and three-light window above. The right return continues the plinth and string. In the gable of the main range is a small double-chamfered light to the first floor. The wing contains, from left to right: an ogee-arched doorway, an inserted doorway, a six-light window (with two mullions removed), and a blocked inserted doorway. The first floor has an inserted window, a gutter spout, and a five-light window (with two mullions removed). A stack rises at the right end. An attached barn on the right, converted to a house, is not of architectural interest.

Interior

The central house body's main feature is a Tudor-arched moulded ashlar fireplace with Carolean baluster-like motifs under stylised heads to the jambs, a heavily-moulded cornice, and a frieze reading 'FEARE GOD HONOUR THE KINGE'. The elaborate plaster overmantel displays the royal arms and the inscription 'DIEU ET MON DROIT 1635 TG E', flanked by caryatids under grotesque heads, cherubs, and the arms of the Bishops of Canterbury and Earls of Derby. Other notable features include five Tudor-arched and basket-arched chamfered doorways, two six-panel doors with linenfold panelling, a frieze on two walls depicting cherubs, pregnant women over lions' heads and pomegranates, and stop-chamfered spine-beams with run-out stops and moulded joists.

The left-hand room (parlour) contains a square-headed fireplace with a deep moulded lintel, the Royal arms (initialled 'CR'), the Derby arms, and other motifs above, along with stop-chamfered moulded spine-beams and joists. The service room behind has stop-chamfered spine-beams and joists. A stone stair serves the building. In Lower Old Hall Cottage (the kitchen) is a large chamfered Tudor-arched fireplace.

On the first floor of the Hall, a stop-chamfered doorway to the rear wing (now blocked) is visible, along with two other doorways. The front left room has a small Tudor-arched moulded fireplace with plasterwork of a pomegranate tree above. The central room contains a chamfered Tudor-arched fireplace. The roof timbers are not visible except for the base of the purlins.