Hutton John And Barn Adjoining

Hutton John and Barn Adjoining

A fortified tower and wings with adjoining barn, grade listed at the highest level. The tower dates from the late 14th century and was built for the Hutton family, with wings added during the 16th and 17th centuries. The building underwent significant alterations in 1660, 1730, 1835, and 1867, the latter phase carried out for the Hudleston family by architect George Ledwell Taylor.

The tower features extremely thick walls of large blocks of dressed pink and calciferous sandstone, with a string course beneath a battlemented parapet and projecting spouts, set on a chamfered plinth, and topped with a flat lead roof. The wings are constructed of mixed pink and calciferous sandstone rubble with string courses and flush quoins, covered with graduated green-slate roofs with coped gables and kneelers. Chimney stacks are banded red sandstone ashlar. The barn is of similar rubble construction beneath a graduated green-slate roof.

The rectangular tower rises 2 storeys over a vaulted basement, with a 3-storey, 5-bay wing to the right. The rear wing was originally 2 storeys, 4 bays, but was altered to 3 storeys, 5 bays in the 19th century. The adjoining barn completes the third side of the courtyard and possibly incorporates part of the original 16th-century curtain wall.

The tower contains numerous medieval arrow loops, some now internal, a blocked 2-light window, and upper-floor sash windows with glazing bars in 18th-century stone surrounds. A projecting full-height signal turret rises from the tower, probably once topped with a beacon.

The right wing features a large off-centre 3-storey gabled porch and stair with a Tudor-arched side doorway, blocked 2-light windows under hoodmoulds, small heart-shaped windows, and a 19th-century mullioned stair window to the front. The facade displays mixed fenestration across three levels: 3-light stone-mullioned windows, large mullioned-and-transomed windows, and sash windows in stone surrounds. The right return wall contains small heart-shaped windows and mullioned-and-transomed windows under a gable inscription reading "HOC SIGNO VINCES" with a cross and the date 1660.

A 1867 entrance-hall extension extends to the rear, alongside large 17th-century mullioned-and-transomed windows. The rear wing has 17th-century cross-mullioned and 3-light windows, supplemented by 19th-century replicas; ground-floor windows are set under hoodmoulds and continuous hoods. The rear also contains blocked oval stair windows and 17th-century 3-light stone-mullioned windows, some of which were moved from their original front positions during 18th-century alterations.

The barn is partly domestic, featuring a plank door and sash windows with glazing bars in 18th-century stone surrounds to the right, with a large cart entrance, loft doorway, and irregular casement windows to the left. The rear wall, believed to be the original curtain wall, now contains small 17th-century chamfered-surround windows, including a 2-light window, all surmounted by small 19th-century grilled vents. A small wood gabled bellcote sits on the roof.

The interior of the tower preserves original doorways, a newel staircase, and mural chambers. Upper rooms were refitted in the 18th century. The right wing underwent extensive alteration in 1867, including panelled woodwork, staircases, and heraldic plaster ceilings, all executed by George Ledwell Taylor. One room features an 18th-century replica plaster ceiling and woodwork created by Gillow of Lancaster in 1872. The rear wing retains 17th-century panelling and beamed ceilings.