Hilcote Hall

Hilcote Hall is a house dating back to the 17th century, with significant alterations from the early 19th century and additions from the late 19th century. It is constructed of coursed rubble sandstone with ashlar dressings and quoins, and has slate roofs with moulded stone copings to the gables, ridge finials, a brick gable end stack to the right, and a stone rear wall stack to the left. The main body of the house is two storeys and has attics, arranged in a roughly L-shaped plan. The front has four first-floor windows, with a gabled crosswing to the left containing the staircase.

The entrance is on the left return, leading to a six-panelled door set within a central, chamfered doorcase. Flanking this are twelve-pane sash windows in plain surrounds with projecting sills, repeated on both the ground and first floors. A central Venetian-style window is set in the gable, lacking side mullions. The main front features a deep plinth. The advanced bay has a large, semi-circular headed staircase window with Gothick glazing and a fluted keystone at the half landing level, accompanied by a smaller Venetian-style window, similar to that on the left return, which illuminates the attics, although this is now partially obscured by ivy. To the right are two large canted bay windows, each with twelve-pane sashes, projecting sills, cornices, and shallow hipped roofs. Above are four irregularly spaced twelve-pane sashes in plain raised surrounds with projecting sills. The front has flush parapets with flat copings, which partially conceal a central gabled dormer. The right return of the advanced bay contains blocked 17th-century recessed and chamfered single-light windows. A rear wing to the left has two twelve-pane sashes and a blocked 17th-century door at ground floor level; two 20th-century windows are positioned above. The rear wing features a stone coped gable with moulded kneeler and a brick end stack to the left. A late 19th-century brick addition is present at the rear of the main range.

Inside, the house boasts a grand, late 17th-century open well staircase, with turned balusters, panelled newels with ball finials, and a moulded handrail. Early 18th-century raised and fielded panelled doors with original hinges are found in most rooms, with those in the entrance hall leading to the rear wing and main rooms set in chamfered stone doorcases. One central room contains an early 19th-century segmental headed niche, and segment-headed double doors lead through to a further room, which has mutilated remains of two cruck trusses. Blocked 17th-century windows are visible in the original rear wall of the house. The roof is a double purlin structure with arched braces.