Bell Hall with coach house, stabling and walled garden

Bell Hall with Coach House, Stabling and Walled Garden

A country house built in 1847 by Edward Smith of Oldswinsford for Charles Noel, constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond with sandstone dressings. Associated with the house are a coach house, stabling and walled garden of probable mid-19th century date located to the east, all of which have undergone 20th century alterations. Some of the original sandstone dressings have been replaced in stone or concrete. The roofs are covered in plain tile with 20th century parapets and stacks of red engineering brick. The interior contains some oak fittings including the main stair, doors and flooring. Windows are timber casements.

The house is planned as two storeys (three storeys to the east range) with basements, oriented east to west. It is built as two in-line ranges with different first-floor heights under a single roof. A service crosswing is attached to the east end, standing at a reduced single-storey height. The central entrance hall contains a main stair to the rear with principal rooms on each side. The service wing is accessed via a stair at first-floor level.

The exterior displays Gothic Revival style. The main house has a symmetrical five-window façade with stone string courses and steeply gabled square bays. The central bay features a full-height porch with inscriptions to the gable reading 1847 and C/N (for Charles Noel). Openings have quoins and eared architraves with stopped hood moulds and decorative lancets to the outer gable ends. The double-leaf panelled door has three steps and a moulded stone case with stopped hood mould, topped by a stone plaque bearing a coat of arms. The engineering brick parapet to the roof follows the steep gables. To the left, the service wing has two bays with plain dressings; a first-floor opening has been extended by one window with disturbed brickwork from former services nearby. A former service crosswing extends forward to the left, single-storey with a gable end and deep parapet facing north.

The west flank and garden elevations have sandstone dressings to openings with some replaced in stone or concrete. The south-facing garden front features diapered brickwork to the left chimney breast. The central bay contains a stone-mullioned tripartite stair window. Concrete garden steps flank the central bay. The right bays (service wing) are set back; upper openings to the left have been altered. A 19th century back porch is attached, with a truncated single-storey kitchen crosswing containing scullery and dairy to the rear. The kitchen has a wide rebuilt gabled bay and a brick corbel table below a parapet extending east to the attached coach house. The east elevation of the kitchen stands below the rebuilt east flank of the service wing, facing a courtyard. A brick former coal store with coped verges to its gabled ends and corbel table stands nearby with two large openings to its south elevation. The kitchen has altered openings with modern garage doors to the right.

Internally, the entrance hall contains an oak chimneypiece to the east wall and an open well oak stair to the rear, both probably of early 20th century date. The stair has large profile newels and balustrade. Ground-floor principal rooms retain 19th century joinery with mouldings including rebated shutters to the casements, panelled doors and reveals, decorative cornices and panelled ceilings. Some flooring and doors are of oak. Door openings on each side of the stair have been widened in the 21st century with concrete lintels.

The stair window contains 19th century stained glass with Perrott and Noel family crests. The stairwell ceiling and landing ceiling are panelled with a decorative scheme of late 20th century date continuing from the ground floor. First-floor rooms have moulded reveals to doorways and windows with 19th century panelled doors. Chimneypieces vary in style, material and date, with none to the first floor. The former service wing contains a mid-19th century back stair with elaborate turned balustrades to ground and first floors and stick balusters to the upper floor, with two 19th century chimneypieces and remains of a servant bell system. The cellars are brick-vaulted. The roof is of king-post construction.

To the west of the hall are two sets of stone steps with capped piers that traverse the slope to a lower section of lawn and a ha-ha.

The coach house and stable block are constructed of red brick laid in a non-standard bond of four rows of stretchers to one row of alternate headers and stretchers, with sandstone dressings. Some cills are concrete replacements. The stable block has a red brick corbel table to the eaves. Roofs are covered in plain tiles and windows are timber casements.

The block comprises two wings: a coach house to the west and stables to the east, attached in-line on an east-west orientation, connected by the carriage arch of the stable block. Single-storey wings with a single bay stand to the north on each side of the arch. The coach house is two storeys with a central stair tower. The stable block is a tall single storey.

The north elevation of the coach house has a moulded stone eaves cornice and a stair tower with a clock and tile-roofed lean-to to the right. To the left is the stables carriage arch with single-storey gabled wings. The stables and its wings have brick corbel tables and kneelers to the gables. The arch has double-leaf carriage doors with iron hinges; within the carriageway are doors to the stables and coach house. The south elevation of the coach house has a stone eaves cornice and four evenly-spaced openings to each floor under shallow arches with 20th century timber casements and concrete cills. A door with overlights is to the left. Stone coped gables are on each flank elevation. The stables has two window openings to the left and three wide door openings to the right, all under cambered brick arches with stone springers. The doors are 20th century replacements re-set in new frames. The east flank has a coped gable with stone kneelers and an attached garden wall connecting with a former driveway entrance to the east.

Internally, brick floors survive to the ground-floor stables and yard areas. The coach house has a 19th century king-post roof with iron bolts and straps and a timber winder stair with hand rail within the stair tower. The stables roof was not inspected in 2018.

To the south of the coach house is a walled garden with red brick walls and stone coping. The wall has been truncated by the coach house and contains some rebuilding in later brick.