Remains Of Wansley Hall

Ruined remains of a medieval manor house, built over several centuries from the 13th century through to the 19th century. The structure is constructed of coursed and squared rubble with dressed stone and brick, incorporating remains of internal timber framing. It features a partial chamfered plinth, ashlar quoins and dressings, and retains the remains of a square central stack and side wall stack in brick.

The building is two storeys tall with three unequal bays, planned as an L-shape with the former hall running on an east-west axis and a later projecting wing to the south. The north front displays two square openings (the right one blocked), with two and three light keeled mullioned windows above. The east side has remains of a projecting gable to the right; to the left are a doorway and small casement, followed by the remains of a mullioned casement further right, then a broken opening with an early 19th-century door with flat hood, and a casement on each floor to the right again. The west side has a projecting wing to the left with a square opening in the plinth; to its right is a basement level doorway. The rear wing to the right has two square openings with a window above to the left.

The interior contains a transverse close studded wall with sill and span beams. The south wall retains the remains of a 16th-century herringbone brick fireback. The north wall has a window opening with timber lintel. The rear wing houses a 19th-century ashlar fireplace. The east brick wall preserves the remains of three 17th-century plain stone mullioned windows with drip moulds, plus an early 18th-century doorway. A late 18th-century plank door is also evident. The west wall contains a re-set corbel.

The building incorporates the remains of a 13th-century first floor hall house originally built for the de Wandeslie family. It was owned by the Gratton family from 1320, and by the mid-16th century by the Middleton family. It passed by marriage to the Howitt family in the early 17th century and was sold by them before 1660. The building served as a farmhouse during the 19th century before being abandoned in 1960. It is now a roofless ruin, consolidated in 1987.