East Ardsley Old Hall

East Ardsley Old Hall is a large gentry house of considerable architectural interest, now partly unoccupied. It represents three phases of construction: 1622, 1632, and mid-17th century. The building is constructed of weathered sandstone with ashlar dressings and stone slate roofs, comprising two storeys arranged on a 3-room hall-and-crosswings plan of double depth. The front elevation is E-shaped, while the rear is T-shaped.

The facade is 5 bays and symmetrical. A plinth and quoins frame the composition, with a central gabled 2-storey porch of ashlar. This porch features a Tudor-arched doorway with moulded surround (cyma, step, and roll), and spandrels flanking the opening. The date 1632 appears incised in a shield with tressure on either side. Above the doorway runs an inscribed lintel reading "Robert..... (Shaw) in Domino Confido", with a carved relief representation of a talbot dog set above. A cyma-moulded band runs across, and the first floor is jettied under a cyma-moulded surround with a 4-light mullioned-and-transomed window featuring ovolo-moulded mullions. A cyma-moulded cornice and coped gable with finials to the apex and kneelers complete the porch.

The flanking bays (bays 2 and 4) have quoined angles and contain 3-light mullioned-and-transomed windows to each floor. The outer bays (1 and 5) project slightly with quoined angles. Bay 1, dated 1622, was probably a parlour wing added to an earlier hall range; it carries a 7-light mullioned-and-transomed window with hoodmould to each floor. Bay 5 has a 5-light mullioned-and-transomed window to each floor and an inserted doorway with flat Tudor-arched lintel and moulded surround. The side returns have cross-windows to the first floor. An additional mid-17th century bay to the right has a cross-window to each floor and a cat-slide roof. The outer bays are coped with gables, kneelers, and apex finials; that to bay 1 is dated. A chimney stack stands forward from the ridge at the junction of bays 4 and 5; a second lateral stack occurs to the left.

The rear elevation shows three gables with a projecting central bay. The left cell has a blocked cusped light and a 2-light window lacking its mullion, with a 3-light double-chamfered mullioned window to the first floor above. The central bay has quoined angles and inserted windows. The third bay displays a 7-light window altered to 5 lights, with a 7-light mullioned-and-transomed window to the first floor above (all blocked except one light).

The interior is entered directly into the hall through the central doorway. The hall contains two spine beams with plaster casings. According to a report by John Batty, the fireplace originally featured an ornamental plaster overmantel, but this no longer survives. On the upper floor within number 2, an original 17th-century 4-centred arched fireplace survives, decorated with early 18th-century Delft tiles. The west parlour retains an original plaster cornice.

The wing to the rear of the hall was probably a kitchen wing, added in the mid-17th century. Opening from the north-east corner of the hall is the main stair, a half-turned stair with landings, heavy turned balusters, and square newels, possibly of the late 17th century. It may be contemporary with the decoration of the east parlour chamber, which features panelled walls painted with three stages of fielded bolection-moulded panelling. A fireplace with bolection-moulded surround and deeply-moulded cornice completes this room. These fittings suggest the room became a principal display area, possibly serving as a first-floor dining room.

The house represents a fine example of a gentry dwelling of its period. It is notable for the unusual provision of a central entry at such an early date. Combined with high-quality parlours and chambers, this arrangement demonstrates the significant decline in the status and role of the traditional hall as the house's principal room by the mid-17th century.