Tower And Attached Walls At Hamstall Hall

Tower and attached walls at Hamstall Hall

A tower and associated walls of late 15th-century date with 16th-century alterations and additions. The building is constructed of red brick in English bond with some ashlar dressings, and features a flat lead-covered roof and a brick lateral stack. The tower stands approximately 40 feet high and occupies the south-east corner of the principal courtyard at Hamstall Hall, with walls extending to enclose the south-east side of the courtyard and the north-west side of the adjacent grounds of the Church of Saint Michael.

The tower is roughly square in plan and rises through three storeys. The east elevation displays two offsets, the lower bearing a stone coping and stone parapet band. Each storey contains a small 15th-century window with a 4-centred head. The ground and first floors are lit by 16th-century three-light chamfered mullioned windows with rebated frames. A 16th-century two-storey buttress projects from the north-east corner. At second-floor level, decorative designs in dark brickwork are visible.

The west elevation features a 16th-century Tudor arch door to the left with sunken spandrels and a stone surround. Directly above, at both first and second-floor levels, a blocked 15th-century doorway with a 4-centred arch is visible. A blocked 16th-century fireplace with a Tudor arch and sunken spandrels occupies the ground floor to the right.

The north elevations contain a small 15th-century window at second-floor level and a small 16th-century window lower down.

The south elevation is dominated on its left half by a massive chimney stack. The upper portion of this stack dates to the 16th century and features a corbel table of trefoil-headed arches with sunken spandrels. The lower part likely served as an annexe to the tower before conversion in the 16th century, as evidenced by a blocked first-floor window of similar type to those on the east face. Three windows of different levels occupy the right side of the elevation, each with sunken spandrels and brick dripstones; the lowest served the first floor whilst the upper two appear to have provided clerestory lighting. A smaller 15th-century window is positioned at second-floor level to the far right.

The interior now contains a late 16th or early 17th-century staircase with closed string, turned balusters and newel finials, constructed largely from reclaimed timber possibly sourced from a demolished section of Hamstall Hall. The original function of the tower remains unclear, though it may have been residential or served as a look-out tower. Around 1600 it was converted into a staircase tower. By the end of the 18th century, demolition of its attached wing had isolated the tower from the main house.

The building is scheduled as an Ancient Monument.