Halston Hall including attached flanking walls and balustrade to rear is a Grade I listed building in the Shropshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 January 1952. A Georgian Country house. 4 related planning applications.

Halston Hall including attached flanking walls and balustrade to rear

WRENN ID
cold-granite-reed
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Shropshire
Country
England
Date first listed
19 January 1952
Type
Country house
Period
Georgian
Source
Historic England listing

Description

Halston Hall is a country house built around 1690, subsequently altered by Robert Mylne for John Mytton between 1766 and 1768, with further additions and modifications made in the early to mid-19th century. The house is constructed of red brick with chamfered stone angle quoins and a moulded plinth, beneath a double-span slate roof with coped verges and an eaves parapet punctuated by ball finials at the corners, including above the central block.

The entrance front presents two storeys and an attic, with a continuous stone floor band and moulded modillioned eaves cornice featuring elaborately carved brackets that rise around a central pediment. The composition is arranged in a 2:5:2 bay plan, with the centre section forming a pedimented projection containing a roundel within a moulded stone surround. The windows are glazing bar sashes—15-paned on the ground floor—with gauged heads and plain moulded stone cills, including a dummy window positioned to the lower right of the pedimented section. Segmental shaped dormers with glazing bar sashes pierce the roof slope on each side of the pediment and flanking wings; these dormers likely date to the late 18th or 19th century.

The central entrance is approached by a flight of four steps and features an early 18th-century porch with alternating bands of rustication and a grooved lintel with projecting keystone. A segmental wooden pediment ornamented with a cartouche sits above, flanked by eight-paned glazing bar sashes. The moulded wooden door surround contains a six-panel door fitted with a wreathed and radiating lead fanlight set within a larger rectangular overlight. Lead downpipes run in the angles between the pediment and flanking ranges.

The chimney stacks are substantial features: those immediately in front of the ridge to the left and right of the pediment have three attached and rebated shafts with moulded stone capping; similar stacks appear immediately in front of the rear ridge and at the valley. The integral end stacks are distinguished by seven attached and rebated shafts with moulded stone capping, each carried over a recessed blind round-headed arch that distributes flues to either side. The left gable end's original stack arrangement is partially obscured by a later addition, but the right gable end displays a lunette window to the attic above two sash windows with gauged heads on the first floor.

Flanking screen walls to the left and right, dated to around 1850, are constructed of red brick with stone dressings. These walls are semi-circular in plan, each containing eleven blind round-headed arches divided by plain pilasters supporting a moulded entablature. Single-bay projections mark the ends of these walls, and they are buttressed to the rear.

The garden front is arranged in a 2:1:3:1:2 bay configuration and rises two storeys to an attic with detailing matching the entrance front. The outer bays project slightly, and the centre section forms a gently projecting break. Glazing bar sashes with eight panes on the ground floor feature gauged heads throughout. The eaves parapet was rebuilt to its original design in 1985. A balustrade occupies the space between the projecting wings and is reached by a flight of six steps to the centre; the balusters are somewhat stumpy and turned in form. A lower five-bay service range, slightly set back to the right, displays glazing bar sashes with gauged heads on each floor and is covered by a double-span slate roof with tall integral end stacks.

A mid-19th-century stone porch with a round-headed outer arch and plain entablature provides the garden entrance on the left, leading through a contemporary half-glazed inner door with a blind semi-circular fanlight. A lower rectangular range projecting to the right, also of early 19th-century date, features a low-pitched hipped slate roof partly concealed by a coped parapet. Three glazing bar sashes with gauged heads illuminate the right wall, and an integral stack with a wooden octagonal louvred lantern stands at the left corner.

The interior opens with an entrance hall featuring a stone-flagged floor and raised and fielded wall panelling. A stone fireplace with fluted consoles is present, and the plaster ceiling displays Gothic bosses with leaf decoration to the cornice, appearing Victorian in character. Double panelled doors in a pilastered doorcase at the back wall give access to the saloon, designed by Mylne. This room showcases shallow bows at each end, a fine door surround, and ornamental raised and fielded panelling with a delicate frieze and cornice. A pedimented glass-fronted wall cupboard adorns the left wall, and Adam-style marble fireplaces occupy the centre of each bow. A concealed door provides access to an adjacent room.

To the right of the entrance hall, a room is panelled with a built-in wall cupboard featuring a round-headed arch and fluted pilasters, completed by a marble fireplace with a late 18th-century cast-iron hour-glass grate. To the left of the saloon, another room retains complete raised and fielded panelling with cornice and a moulded 18th-century marble fireplace.

An open-well staircase, positioned behind the room to the right of the entrance hall, features sturdy turned balusters, plain newel posts, and a closed string. It is said to have been relocated from a house in Herefordshire. A Gothic-style plaster ribbed ceiling above appears Victorian. Several first-floor rooms retain raised and fielded panelling with moulded wooden cornices and moulded wooden fireplaces, some fitted with late 18th-century cast-iron hour-glass grates. Panelled doors are found throughout.

The attic rooms, formerly servants' quarters, contain Victorian cast-iron grates and sets of bells in the corridor. One room incorporates reused square oak panelling, including sections following the roof slope, with several inset panelled wall cupboards fitted with H-hinges.

The listing also includes attached flanking walls and a balustrade to the rear.

Detailed Attributes

Structured analysis including materials, construction techniques, architect attribution, and related listed building consent applications. Sign in or create a free account to view.

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.