Abbey Farmhouse

SJ 53 SE; 1/64

HODNET C.P., HAWKSTONE PARK, HAWKSTONE PARK, Abbey Farmhouse

II*

Shown on map as Hawkstone Abbey Farm. Farmhouse. Mid-C18 with early to mid-C19 additions. Red brick. 3-span plain tile roof with gables to front. South front: central 3-bay block of three storeys with early C19 set-back 3-bay one-storey wings. Vanbrugian castellated style. Plinth, string courses at first- and second-floor cill levels, and cornice string. Bays divided by square piers with moulded stone caps (second cap from right appears to be a wooden replacement). Battlemented parapet to centre bay and parapeted gables to outer bays and at rear. Pair of cruciform-shaped brick ridge stacks with Gothic panels. 1:1:1 bays; tripartite windows of three round-arched lights with leaded casements, impost blocks and returned hoodmoulds; second-floor and central first-floor windows with blind outer lights. Blind 2-light attic windows. Central 6-panelled door with fanlight. Returns with ground- and first-floor tripartite windows (some formerly blind). Each wing with dentil brick eaves cornice, parapeted gable end and integral brick corner stacks (left-hand wing with two stacks); tripartite windows with round-arched lights, impost blocks and returned hoodmoulds. The left-hand wing appears to have been built in two phases (see straight joint to right of left-hand window). Rear of main block with three parapeted gables, one in centre smaller and one projecting as wing with dentil brick eaves cornice. Salop fire insurance plate.

INTERIOR: plain 3-flight dog-leg staircase with ramped handrail and square newel posts. The farmhouse stands to the north-east of Hawk Lake which marks the extent of the former landscaped park to Hawkstone Hall (q.v.). The elaborate south front was probably intended to be seen as an eyecatcher from the Hall.

Listing NGR: SJ5759130814