Pillaton Old Hall

Pillaton Old Hall

Gatehouse range and chapel. The chapel dates from 1488, while the gatehouse range was built in the early 16th century. The buildings were altered in 1706 and restored in 1888. The structure is constructed in red brick laid in English bond with an ashlar plinth, dressings, and chapel work. The roof is plain tile with a brick ridge stack and integral end stacks featuring paired octagonal shafts.

This surviving range formed part of a former quadrangular house, aligned east-west. The two-bay chapel stands to the east on the same alignment but projects to the north. A wing added around 1980 projects from the west end of the south front and runs north-south.

The North Front displays the chapel to the left and a set-back gatehouse range to the right. The chapel rises to two storeys on its right hand bay, with a single storey to the left. Buttresses flank each angle and the centre, while a crenellated parapet crowns the structure. The right hand windows are mullioned with cinquefoil arched lights and sunken spandrels beneath square heads; the lower window has three lights and the upper four lights, both with returned hood moulds. The left hand window is tall and transomed, consisting of three upper and three lower lights, all with cinquefoiled heads, sunken spandrels, and a returned hood mould.

The gatehouse range rises to two storeys with a three-storey gatehouse to the left of centre. The approach is via a bridge. Circular domed angle turrets rest on V-shaped buttresses. The window arrangement follows a 1:2:3 pattern. Nineteenth-century windows of five transomed lights occupy 16th-century openings on the ground and first floors to the left. Other windows are 19th-century cross windows set in 18th-century openings with segmental heads. Mullions and transoms are ovolo-moulded. A Tudor gate arch with battened doors marks the gatehouse. The gatehouse and right hand range feature a moulded cornice, while the left hand range has a crenellated parapet. A rainwater head dated 1706 decorates the gatehouse.

The South Front shows the chapel set-back to the right and the gatehouse range to the left, though the latter's left hand bay is partially obscured by the circa 1980 extension wing. The gatehouse range rises to two storeys with a three-storey gatehouse to the right of centre. Circular angle turrets on V-shaped buttresses flank the structure. Windows follow a 2:2:1 pattern. Nineteenth-century windows of three transomed lights occupy 16th-century openings, while the gatehouse displays 19th-century cross windows in 18th-century openings with segmental heads. The gatehouse features a Tudor gateway arch and a second floor band. A moulded cornice, likely contemporary with the 1706 rainwater head, runs along the top.

On the chapel's right side at ground and first floor level are paired squints. A 19th-century wooden two-storey porch projects from the left.

The East End is dominated by the east window of four upper and four lower lights, all with cinquefoil headed lights beneath a flat arch and returned hood mould. The parapet steps up at the centre and is crowned by a cross. A short length of wall, approximately 10 feet long, links the chapel to the base of a former garderobe that served the west range.

Interior features include timber framed partition walls within the gatehouse range and a wooden newel staircase on the west side of the gatehouse. A sandstone fireplace with a Tudor arch stands within, though it was recased in the 19th century.

The chapel contains a western gallery. The 19th-century roof is of low pitch with moulded purlins and rafters. A 15th-century stone font with trefoil headed arcading survives. The east and north-east windows date from circa 1888 and contain stained glass.

Pillaton Old Hall was formerly surrounded by a moat, which still survives to the north and east. A chimney stack survives from the former east and south ranges.