Horbury Hall

Horbury Hall is a timber-frame hall house dating from between 1478 (determined by dendrochronology) and 1492 (documented evidence). It was originally built for the Amyas family. Around 1700, a floor was inserted and a central stack was added. The building was subsequently encased over several stages in the 18th century and later. At the time of survey in 1987, the hall was undergoing restoration. The exterior is predominantly brick, with sections rendered and the front wall partially constructed of deeply coursed stone. It has a stone slate roof.

The building originally comprised a two-bay open hall, and a one-bay solar with a chamber beneath. The three-bay front exhibits two entrances and 19th and 20th century windows of no particular interest. A rendered ridge stack is situated between bays 1 and 2.

The interior's open hall, now floored and divided by the inserted brick stack, originally spanned two bays, and to the right (west) is a solar bay retaining its original floor, with provision for a semicircular stair to the rear right. The roof features king-post trusses on posts; the front post to truss No. 2 is missing. There are two intermediate open, moulded and arched-braced collared trusses in the hall. The roof is two-purlin, with exceptionally fine and rare cusped windbracing. An additional tie-beam to the left of truss 3 once supported the top of a coved dias canopy, and, along with the tie-beam to truss 2, is brattished and decoratively carved with roses and shields bearing the Amyas coat-of-arms. The rear post to truss 2 (south side) is also richly moulded. Studding is visible in trusses 3 and 4 at first-floor level; it is believed that the right wall (truss 4) and the rear wall were originally of stone at lower levels. A 18th century plaster ceiling cornice and corner cupboard are found in the ground-floor left room. The house terminates at the left end with a spere-truss; a cross-passage and a further wing to the left (east) were demolished in 1938.

The structure represents a remarkably complete survival of a 15th century gentry house, noteworthy for its spere-truss and cusped windbracing, the only known examples of these features in Yorkshire.