Oakwell Park

Oakwell Park is a small country house built by 1937 to the designs of Frank Crossley-Holland and Harold W C Shaw. It demonstrates the Neo-Elizabethan style popular in interwar domestic architecture.

The house is constructed of local red brick laid in English bond with brick dressings and some applied timber framing. The roof is covered with red clay plain tiles. The plan forms an approximate U-shape, with the great hall occupying the principal south-east range, the study in the short south-west wing, and the dining room at the south-east end of the north-east wing, with service rooms at the north-west end.

The two-storey house displays characteristic Neo-Elizabethan features including crow-stepped gables, heraldic stained glass windows and clustered chimney stacks. The steeply pitched roofs have laced valleys. Two plain chimney stacks pass through the north-east slope over the service end of the north-east wing. The more elaborate chimney stack serving the great hall fireplace passes through the rear slope of the main range and consists of three clustered octagonal stacks with oversailing brick courses, resting on a brick base.

The windows are casements with various glazing patterns, some diamond or geometrical, with particularly elaborate patterns in the windows to the great hall and dining room. They are set in brick frames with chamfered brick mullions and tile creasing above some of the lintels. The service room windows have wooden frames and a mixture of square and diamond leaded lights. The original cast-iron rainwater goods survive, with fleur-de-lys decoration on the hoppers.

The principal south-east elevation has, from the left, a two-light window on both floors, followed by a projecting double-height, crenellated canted bay window lighting the great hall. This contains thirty-two panes divided by brick mullions and transoms, filled with heraldic stained glass and representations of zodiacal figures relating to the birthdates of each member of the Crossley-Holland family. The door, positioned to the right of the canted bay, has applied panelling of nine small chamfered and pegged square panels with three long glazed panels in the top half, with a small two-light window above. To the right is a projecting gabled bay embellished with crow-stepped gables and diaper work in vitrified brick creating a continuous diamond pattern around the double-height, crenellated canted bay window lighting the dining room. This has fourteen lights on the ground floor, some with heraldic stained glass and some painted with images from the natural world, and seven lights on the first floor. The left return of the projecting bay has a five-light window with the same decorated glass as the canted bay, and a two-light window above.

The elevation of the short south-west wing has four-light windows on both floors, followed by a crow-stepped gabled bay forming the gable end of the main range. This contains the principal entrance under a large projecting canopy with a pitched roof and parapets at the gables. The openings have a false three-centred arch with a slight camber and are wide enough for a vehicle to pass through. The opening on the south-west side has a decorative iron screen with a central opening surmounted by an overthrow of three bifurcated scrolls. The canopy has diagonal buttresses with tumbled-in brickwork at the corners and a floor laid in decorative brickwork. The double-leaf, four-centred arch door has moulded fillets and carved spandrels incorporating the initials of the original owner. It has upright handles, and the original doorbell and letterbox survive to the right. Either side of the canopy roof are corbelled angled windows under tiny tiled roofs which light the minstrels' gallery in the great hall. Above, a group of three arched windows have an elaborate glazing pattern with painted glass. Attached to the south-west side of the entrance canopy are splayed dwarf walls flanking a flight of three brick steps.

The elevation of the long north-east wing has, from the left, the large dining room chimney projecting from the wall and surmounted by two octagonal clustered stacks. This is followed by a gabled bay flush with the wall, which has applied timber framing in the gable head infilled with white square panels. Next, a timber door with two glazed panels, now blocked, leads into the former butler's pantry. On the right is a three-light window with two windows above, all in wooden frames, as are the other windows to the service rooms. This is followed by a single-storey projection under a hipped lean-to roof with a tall square chimney stack on the left, a three-light window and a plank door. Small windows flank the chimney stack at first-floor level, and there are three more windows at this level and two below.

The north-west gable ends of the two wings have applied timber framing in the gable heads, similar to that already described, and two single-light windows on the first floor. The gable end to the north-east wing has a servants' entrance under a projecting gabled porch with a false three-centred arch and a parapet at the gable. The vertical plank door retains its original handle, with a three-light window to the right. The ground floor of the gable end to the south-west wing has a single-light window and a three-light window. The area formed by the U-shape at the north-west end of the house has been covered by a carport. The first-floor elevations have applied close studding and casement windows in wooden frames.

Internally, the two rooms of principal interest are the great hall and dining room. The double-height great hall has wainscoting with square panels and a king post roof truss with collars and two purlins. The lower ends of the principal rafters are carved with intricate designs and terminate in corbels carved in the form of faces. At the north-east end there is a minstrels' gallery with a balustrade featuring twisted balusters and square posts surmounted by finials. This design is echoed at the north-east end by the dogleg stair which has the same balustrade. The wide fireplace has a three-pointed arched surround of moulded stone and is lined with herringbone brickwork at the back. It has a metal hood, grate and tiled hearth. The study leading off from the great hall retains fitted bookcases on the north-east wall.

The dining room has moulded bridging beams and joists with square moulded bosses, and full-height square panelling which continues onto the jambs of the inglenook. This large rectangular opening is framed by substantial timbers which appear to have been finished with an adze. The brick chimneypiece has corbelled jambs and is lined with herringbone brickwork at the back. The fireback bears the date of 1635. Above the firehood is a timber lintel surmounted by a three-panel overmantel with a heraldic symbol set under a three-pointed brick arch. The right jamb of the inglenook is pierced by a recessed circular window with an elaborate glazing pattern.

The windows throughout the house retain their decorative ironmongery. The service rooms and bedrooms have plain skirting boards, coving and doors with one large recessed panel, some with scrolled handles. The bedrooms have picture rails. The fireplaces have been blocked up and it is not known if they remain.

To the north-east of the house stands a small, single-storey building which may have been part of the outbuilding range belonging to the former farmhouse. It is partly constructed of red brick laid in English bond and has some structural timber framing, including posts and braces along the north-east and south-east sides. It has a roof covering of slates and a tall brick chimney stack rises through the north-east slope. It is lit by casements with leaded lights. Internally, there is a large brick chimneypiece with some tile creasing and a small grate. The building is partially overgrown with ivy.

A brick mounting block is located south-west of the entrance canopy.