Holdgate Hall

Holdgate Hall is a farmhouse incorporating the remains of a medieval castle, dating from the 16th century, with medieval vestiges from the late 13th or early 14th century, and 19th-century alterations and 20th-century restoration. The front is of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings, the rear is sandstone ashlar, and the roof is covered in plain tiles with a conical roof-end over the tower wing. The building includes two integral stone ridge stacks and a brick shaft, an integral brick gable-end stack to the north-east, and a projecting brick stack to the south-west gable.

The building has a rectangular plan with a rear wing comprised of the lower two storeys of a semicircular castle tower, and an end extension wing.

The south-east front features a two-storey, six-window range of 20th-century twin-mullion windows over twin-mullion and transom windows. Three restored two-light gabled dormers are present. The centre-right of the front includes an entrance door, and a 20th-century boarded door to the left sits within a segmental-arched opening. A single-storey extension wing to the left incorporates three 3-centred arches of differing widths with 20th-century infilling. The right return gable has an ashlar wall with a three-light attic casement to the left. The left return gable has a stone rubble wall with a 20th-century attic casement, otherwise obscured by the single-storey extension wing.

The rear elevation showcases a projecting wing of the former castle tower towards the centre-right. This wing features curved ashlar blocks on a battered plinth, with three thin arrow-slits at the lower floor and three chamfered glazed slits above. Casements are present at each storey to the right side of the wing. To the right is a stone rubble wall section with a three-light casement at the upper floor above two single-light casements. To the left is a mostly ashlar four-window range: two casements to the left; two wood mullion and transom windows to the right, one with leaded lights; two 20th-century two-light ground-floor windows, the one to the left with a transom; and a 20th-century casement in the cellar.

Internally, the building features square-framed internal partitions, a large open fireplace in the hall, and chamfered bridging beams. The hall’s beams have faceted stops, the kitchen’s have concave stops, and the parlour’s have ogee stops. Fine roof timbers are also present, along with an arched tower doorway. The tower is reputedly attributed to Bishop Robert Burnell, Chancellor of England, who acquired the castle in 1284, likely as a replacement for an earlier castle to the south-west. The castle was fortified during the civil war, besieged, and heavily damaged by Royalist forces in 1644.