High Bentley

High Bentley is a house of major importance, comprising a late medieval timber-framed structure from the second half of the 15th century that was encased in stone in 1661, with an added rear kitchen wing dating to around 1665 on the north side.

The building is constructed of hammer-dressed stone with a stone slate roof. The plan forms a 'U' shape to the south with projecting wings, and a 'T' shape to the north with a single-cell rear kitchen wing. When viewed from the north elevation, the building reads as three cells: the first is a two-storey kitchen wing, the second is the aisle of the hall, and the third is the cross-wing.

The main entry on the north elevation is positioned at the junction of the single-storey aisle with the kitchen wing. The doorway features a decorative ogee lintel inscribed 'RW 1661' set within a tressure, with a small lunette above. To the right are two chamfered mullioned windows of three lights, one with a stepped light and ogee one-piece lintel. Between these, set in a small gable, is a triple-light window formed from an ogee. The right-hand cross-wing, flush with the hall range, has double chamfered mullioned windows of two and five lights to the ground floor, with a four-light window above. Quoins mark the angle. The right-hand return wall is blind, with a lateral stack flanked by quoins.

The south front features quoins to the two-storey cross-wing. From left to right, it displays an inserted 19th-century doorway, double chamfered mullioned windows of six lights with hoodmould, and a stepped light of two and four lights with hoodmould in the gable. The right-hand return wall has a lintel for a former two-light window now forming a doorway (blocked), with a complete two-light window and hoodmould above it, topped by a coped gable with kneeler (remaining on the left-hand side only). This adjoins the single-storey hall range, which features a twelve-light mullioned and transomed window (with an inserted doorway occupying three lights) with hood over, and a three-light window to the right of the central truss, probably lighting the fire area. The outermost bay has a 19th-century doorway cut from a mullioned window of which three lights remain; above is a four-light window, shorter and of different character, lacking a central mullion. A lean-to porch built onto the projecting wall, which has quoins of the cross-wing (now gone), protects a 17th-century doorway with square lintel, chamfered surround and stops. A large central ashlar stack rises to the ridge. The two-storey kitchen wing at right angles to the main entry has a two-light fire window, a five-light double chamfered mullioned window, and a four-light window to the first floor, with coped gable with kneelers and gable stack.

The interior contains a single-aisled hall of two and a half bays, with the half-bay at the upper end formerly occupied by a dais canopy. Evidence for a former firehood remains. The two-bay cross-wing is contemporary with the hall; the central truss has been moved further along the wall plate. The dais canopy sprang from a brattished rail pegged to the east wall of the cross-wing. The service bay is hipped. The aisle is partitioned from the nave but opens into the hall. In the 17th century, a kitchen wing was added at right angles to the service bay, destroying the medieval aisle. The remainder of the building's medieval firehood was replaced by the present stack, which has a decorative lintel inscribed 'RW, IW', above which lay fine plasterwork.

High Bentley is of exceptional importance as the only complete Yorkshire aisled hall that retains both its service and solar wings in timber framing. The stone casing is of high quality. The house belonged to a large hall serving a shrunken medieval settlement, the earthwork platforms of which remain visible in the field immediately to the north.