Todmorden Hall

Todmorden Hall is a house, now a restaurant, dating back to the early 17th century, originally built for Saville Radcliffe. It is a substantial building constructed of dressed stone with a stone slate roof. The house features a hall-and-cross-wings plan, with the western wing retaining elements of a timber-framed structure from around 1500. The main house is composed of five divisions. All divisions have double-chamfered mullioned and transomed windows with ovolo moulded mullions. The west wing’s 12-light window to the first floor originally had 5 lights; a 5-light window lacking transoms replaced the remaining lights. A blocked 3-light attic dormer is present, topped with a coped gable and lantern finial. The second division is a gabled two-story porch, featuring a doorway with composite jambs and a depressed arched lintel with a double cyma moulded surround, bearing a carved coat of arms inscribed ‘S R’ for Saville Radcliffe. Above the doorway is a 6-light window with transoms, and a coped gable with kneelers and finials. The first-floor above the doorway juts out, displaying a deeply moulded soffit. The third and fourth divisions form the hall range, which is set back from the wings. Both have 16-light windows with two transoms, and an 8-light window to the first floor, with 2-light gabled attic dormers with finials. An inserted 20th-century doorway in keeping is positioned at the junction between the hall and the east wing, above which is a 2-light window to the first floor. The east wing projects forwards; its return wall facing the hall has cross-windows on both floors. The front of the building was fitted with sash windows in the 19th century, now replaced with an 18-light window, and a 12-light window above, installed in the early 20th century. A 3-light attic dormer is also present. A coped gable with finials tops the wing. All windows are hooded with straight returns; the hood mould over the porch window is stepped and continues over the ground-floor windows of the hall and east wing, and other finials appear on the parapet between gables. The left-hand return wall has two lateral stacks. The rear of the property features a two-story outshut between the wings, making the rear range flush. It contains double-chamfered mullioned windows of several lights, some with transoms and chamfered mullions, and a tall lateral stack to the hall range at the arcade-plate point. Attached to either end are later additions dating to the 19th and mid-20th centuries, designed to complement the original fabric. The west wing’s interior retains a large fireplace with a depressed arch and skewbacks, along with a close-string stair with turned balusters. The porch leads into what was formerly a through passage. The first floor contains the remains of a timber-framed wing of three bays, featuring king post trusses, with the northern truss displaying two 'A' struts. The east wing has an oak-panelled room on the ground floor, adorned with an elaborate carved overmantel bearing the initials of Saville Radcliffe and his wife, Kathleen Hyde. The rear chamber of the east wing displays a fine plaster frieze decorated with mythical beasts.