Linley Hall

Linley Hall is a country house dating from 1742 to 1761, designed by Henry Joynes, who also worked as surveyor for Kensington Palace. The house is constructed primarily of regularly coursed limestone blocks, with a rusticated ashlar ground floor to the east front, and has slate hipped roofs. A stone modillion eaves cornice runs around the building, rising to pediments, and there are lateral rubblestone stacks.

The architectural style is largely Palladian, but shows influence from the work of Vanbrugh, where Joynes had previously worked. The east front has a five-bay design, with a slightly projecting central bay rising to a pediment and recessed flanks. The central bay features a plain door with a Gibbs surround, a Venetian window at the piano nobile level, and a keyed Diocletian window above. Other windows are glazing bar sashes; those in the second and fourth bays of the piano nobile have pediments, while the remainder (except those in the first and fifth bays of the top floor) have raised plastered keystones. Empty round-headed niches on the piano nobile are located on either side of the first and fifth bays.

The south garden front also has a five-bay design, with a recessed central portion three bays wide and projecting wings, featuring pedimented breaks. A central glazed door, approached by straight steps from a terrace, is sheltered by an Ionic porch with a pulvinated frieze and pediment. Flanking the door are tall, pedimented, 18-pane sash windows, with identical windows in the wings at the piano nobile level. Upper-floor windows are six-pane sashes, also in lugged architraves, with raised plastered keystones.

The west front features a three-bay design with a full-height, three-window canted bay projecting to the centre, topped with a stone balustrade. The central window of the piano nobile is pedimented, and the remaining windows have lugged architraves with raised plastered keystones. The north front is plainer, with five bays recessed to the centre and slightly projecting wings.

The interior, completed in 1761, is accessed via a two-flight staircase with a wrought iron balustrade, likely added between 1775 and 1785. Key rooms on the piano nobile include the saloon, which features niches, an arched recess, an enriched cornice, and a mid-18th century fireplace (not original to the house); the boudoir, now a library, with built-in shelving, an enriched cornice, and a coved ceiling; and the drawing room, which has a bow window (the three-window canted bay on the west front) and is decorated with mid-19th century French wallpaper with white, gold, and pale blue borders. Linley Hall has been the principal home of the More family since 1580.