Woolley Hall

Woolley Hall is a large country house, now a residential college, dating from around 1675 with later 17th-century and 18th-century additions. The building is constructed of hammer-dressed stone with ashlar dressings and a stone slate roof.

The house is H-shaped in plan, originally built around 1635, with an east wing added in the mid-18th century. Further major extensions were carried out around 1800, when a rear projecting bay, new entrance porch, and service ranges to the east were constructed. The building stands 2 storeys with basement and attics to the principal block, rising to 3 storeys in the extensions.

The south entrance front is defined by quoins and features a deeply indented facade of five main elements arranged symmetrically as ABCBA. The outer elements (A) are set forward and each contains a single bay of 19th-century sash windows with plain stone surrounds, together with a 4-light flat-faced mullioned window to the basement. The inner elements (B) are also set forward and contain 2 bays of 18th-century sash windows with plain stone surrounds. A continuous dripcourse runs across the facade. Both A and B elements are crowned with shaped coped gables bearing spike finials and 2-light double-chamfered mullioned attic windows to the apex. The central element (C) comprises 3 bays with a central doorway of Gibbs surround and flanking windows that have been altered to French windows. An open porch of around 1800 features a balustraded balcony carried on two pilasters, with sash windows to the first floor and an embattled parapet. Added to the right of the east wing around 1800 is a 7-bay, 3-storey extension with sash windows.

The rear (north) front is dominated by a central full-height 3-storey canted bay with tall arched sash windows to the ground floor and rectangular sashes above. Flanking wings contain tripartite sashes with plain sashes above across all three floors, linked by an embattled parapet. The outer wings have single bays of sash windows to each floor and shaped gables.

The west front is a 9-bay facade with a central 3 bays breaking forward under a shaped gable bearing an achievement of arms. The first three bays date from the mid-18th century. All bays contain sash windows and the facade is topped by an embattled parapet. The east front is U-shaped; the central block and gabled wing to the left retain 17th-century fenestration, some windows with double-chamfered surrounds and mullioned frames now containing small-paned sashes. A 17th-century attic dormer features a coped gable and finial.

The interior was largely remodelled in 1807. A large open stair-hall was created to designs by Charles Watson, executed by Thomas Shuttleworth between 1807 and 1808. The space features a Neo-Classical fireplace, probably moved from the library, with engaged Roman Ionic columns and a frieze with a carved tablet decorated with the arts of reading. Five doorways lead from the stair-hall, each with architraves and 6-panel mahogany doors with astragal mouldings. An imperial staircase is supported on Tuscan columns and Ionic columns at first-floor level, with a cantilevered wooden stair, cast-iron balustrade, and ramped handrail.

The former dining room contains a Neo-Classical fireplace, possibly from Hickleton Hall, with an apsidal end fitted with 3 elliptical-headed windows and panelled surround. Paired doorways at the opposite end bear a carved frieze and cornice similar to those at Bretton Hall, attributed to John Carr. The ceiling is Edwardian plaster. The library features a fireplace with an eared surround. The billiard room contains an 18th-century fireplace with a fluted frieze decorated with urns. The drawing room, dating from around 1807, has a dado and door and window architraves with chain decoration, double mahogany doors, and a fireplace with fluted Doric columns and steel and brass fittings. This room was formerly decorated with wall paintings by Agostino Agio.

The roof of the 4-bay hall features a king-post structure, whilst the east wing has a 6-bay notched-collar truss roof.

Woolley Hall was the seat of the Wentworths. Samuel Buck's illustration of the house from around 1720 shows it substantially as it appears today. The building is authoritatively discussed in George Markham's "Woolley Hall, The Historical Development of a Country House" (1979).