Witherslack Hall And Attached Outbuilding

Witherslack Hall is a house, now a school, built in 1774 for the Earl of Derby. It is constructed from rock-faced limestone with sandstone ashlar dressings and has slate roofs. The house has an L-shaped plan, incorporating two service courts to the north. A four-stage tower is situated at the angle where the north and west wings meet, topped with an embattled parapet and a square, northeast stair turret.

The west wing is two storeys high and spans seven bays, with the two end bays projecting forward as a three-storey block with an embattled parapet. It features double-chamfered-mullioned windows with transoms of two, three, and four lights. A projecting window in the third bay of the first floor extends upwards to form a gabled dormer window with two lights. The end two bays have second-floor windows with round heads. The tower has windows with cusped lights and leaded glazing on the upper two stages.

A second section of the west wing is two storeys high with an attic and five bays, with the first two bays projecting. This section features gabled dormers over the first and second bays, and a central oriel window of four lights with two transoms and blind traceried frieze over a pointed entrance flanked by shafts. Similar flanking three-light windows have decorative leaded glazing. The third and fourth bays have hipped dormers. At the south end of this section, a three-bay arrangement includes a three-storey canted and gabled window, and a two-storey canted bay window. A round-headed entrance sits in the second bay, with a mullioned and transomed overlight. Some windows retain leaded glazing. The west facade mirrors this design.

The lower portion of the west facade, consisting of the first five bays, contains two entrances and two gables. The higher section, bays six to nine, features projecting end bays beneath gables and hipped dormers between. Ground-floor windows are fitted with two transoms.

Attached to the north wing is a stable with a south range projecting eastward and north ranges, with characteristic gabled dormer windows along the south elevation and gabled end bays with high ground-floor lights on the east. The north elevation includes a lateral stack. The internal court has three carriage entrances and hipped dormers to the north. Cross-casement windows, small panes, a central entrance to the east, and altered entrances to the south are visible, together with some remaining loose boxes in the east range.

The rear of the house is similar, though plainer, than the front, with a window featuring a datestone marking the return of the three-storey block. The kitchen court, potentially a later addition, has northeast and west ranges; cross-casement windows add raking dormers, and lacks sandstone. A verandah runs along three sides of the court, with a gabled passage to the north. The southeast angle has a canted, weather-boarded projection with a louvre. Various gable-end and cross-axial stacks are present. A wall extends south from the southeast angle of the stables, featuring a gable over a round-headed gateway.