Alkington Hall

House, now farmhouse, dated 1592, probably built for William Cotton (died 1607). The building has undergone mid-to-late 19th-century alterations and additions.

The house is constructed of red brick with grey brick diapering and grey sandstone ashlar dressings. It has a plain tile and slate roof arranged in two spans, and is built to an L-plan with two storeys and a gable-lit attic over a basement.

The north front features a chamfered stone plinth, flush stone quoins, a moulded stone eaves cornice, and parapeted gable ends with stone copings. Obelisk finials sit at the feet of the gables (those to the front probably renewed in the 19th century) and globe finials at the apices. The front contains two windows: ovolo-moulded mullioned and transomed stone windows, with three lights to the first floor and four lights to the ground floor. A small basement window to the left has chamfered reveals. The central doorway is a 16th-century nail-studded boarded door with wrought-iron strap hinges and furniture, set within chamfered stone reveals. A 19th-century brick porch with chamfered plinth, flush quoins, and moulded eaves cornice stands centrally, with a parapeted gable bearing finials at the feet and apex. The porch front has a two-light double-chamfered mullioned stone window and a chamfered elliptical arch in its left-hand return.

Three stacks rise from the building: a large external brick end stack to the left with a pair of diagonally-placed square shafts, a small brick stack in the valley to the right, and a brick ridge stack to the rear wing with two diagonally-placed square shafts.

The right-hand gable end displays a three-light first-floor and attic double-chamfered mullioned stone window. A 19th-century one-storey lean-to addition has a three-light double-chamfered mullioned stone window to its front.

The east front has two gables, with a central stack and lean-to addition including a fire window at the base. The front contains two windows: double-chamfered mullioned and transomed stone windows, with two lights to the attic and three lights to both first and ground floors.

The rear elevation shows a ground-floor two-light double-chamfered mullioned stone window to the right and a segmental-headed two-light wooden casement to the left-hand 19th-century addition. A chamfered Tudor-arched doorway to the south contains a boarded door. An early 17th-century wing at the rear has a chamfered crowstepped gable, a 20th-century attic casement, and first-and-ground-floor three-light double-chamfered mullioned stone windows. A 19th-century two-storey lean-to occupies the angle to the east.

Interior features include timber-framed internal walls and late 16th-century fittings and ornament throughout. The left-hand ground-floor front room contains three ovolo-moulded ceiling beams, dado panelling with a bench along the north wall, and a large open fireplace with a slightly segmental chamfered wooden lintel and fire window to the left. An old panelled door is also present.

The left-hand ground-floor rear room has an old panelled door with fluted frieze, a pair of ovolo-moulded ceiling beams, and an enriched plaster ceiling consisting of three lozenges with rose and acorn motifs. A 19th-century staircase is present in the house.

The first-floor staircase hall contains old panelled doors and ovolo-moulded beams. The left-hand first-floor front room features panelling with fluting above a door and a blocked stone fireplace with chamfered reveals and deep stone lintel. Its sumptuous enriched plaster ceiling comprises thin ribs, moulded cased beams with fleur-de-lys and other ornament, and square panels with vine, rose, and lily motifs; one panel depicts a lion and two contain heads, probably portraits.

The right-hand first-floor front room has panelling. The left-hand first-floor rear room contains ovolo-moulded beams and a plaster ceiling with two circular panels, one with oak trails and one with a dragon and vine-leaf ornament. The kitchen has deep-chamfered beams and old oak boards throughout the house.

William Cotton was the son of Ralph Cotton. A date of 1592 was recorded over an internal doorway (Clarke, 1952) but was not observed at the time of survey in October 1986. The house probably formerly had a central two-storey porch to the north, evidenced by straight joints and differing brickwork above the present porch. The house was enlarged, probably in the mid-19th century, when the south-west corner was filled in, as shown by straight joints.