Bolham Hall

Bolham Hall and Bolham Hall Farm, East Retford

A house, now two dwellings, constructed in the mid-18th century, with alterations and extensions added in the 19th century and subdivided in the 20th century.

The building is constructed of red brick with painted stone dressings, coped gables, and rendered gable chimney stacks (those at the north end projecting from the gable brickwork). The roof is covered with clay pantiles. The plan follows a double pile arrangement, with a gabled extension to the rear (west) range at its southern end. The original interior plan has been altered due to the 20th-century subdivision.

The east front presents a symmetrical three-storey composition of five bays. A central doorway is flanked by six-over-six pane glazing bar sash windows. The doorway features a wooden doorcase beneath a shallow pediment, a half-glazed door, and a fanlight with intersecting tracery. The ground and first floor window openings have flat gauged brick arched heads with painted keystones. The upper floor openings are shallower and contain replacement 20th-century two-light casement frames, set beneath a modillion cornice. Painted band courses mark the storey levels. The rear (west) elevation is plainly detailed, with segmental arch-headed window openings fitted with 20th-century casement frames. The upper floor has paired single-light openings to each bay and to the gabled wing at the south end. Extensions to the north end gables are not of special interest.

The interior of the east front range retains a turned baluster staircase with a moulded and ramped handrail extending to the first floor landing, where the stair becomes plainer. The stair is supported by a tapered square timber column. The ground and first floor rooms preserve panelled doors, window shutters, and hearth surrounds, mainly of 19th-century date. The interior of the rear range was not inspected.

Historical records before 1828 are sparse. John Piercy's History of Retford (1828) refers to a manor at Bolham owned by the Thorold family and previously by Francis Wortley. White's Directory and Gazetteer of Nottinghamshire (1853) describes Bolham Hall as "a neat farmhouse with 150 acres of land." According to the same source, the manor was granted by Henry VIII to Sir Robert Swift, with whose heirs it remained until 1651, when it was conveyed to Francis Wortley Esq. The date of the house's subdivision is not known.