Stoke Hall

Stoke Hall is a country house dated 1757, built for the Reverend John Simpson. The house is constructed of ashlar gritstone with a stone slate roof and features boldly projecting eaves cornice on a corbelled band, a shallow parapet with ball finials, ashlar ridge and mid-roof stacks. The roof to the principal range is hipped.

The building has an irregular plan, apparently five by five bays, with a two-storey service range extending to the north and a projecting wing to the rear (east).

The principal range presents a symmetrical five-bay west elevation of two and a half storeys. The ground and first floors have glazing bar sashes, many with substantial glazing bars, connected by plain bands linking the cills. The ground floor windows have projecting moulded surrounds with shallow bracketed hoods; the first floor windows lack surrounds but have floating cornices. The second floor windows are twentieth-century casements without glazing bars and are wholly plain. A central doorway features Tuscan columns and entablature, supporting the base of the central first floor window, which has a segmental pediment, splayed architraves and a blind balustrade. The south elevation has a central doorway with pediment, splayed architraves and an interrupted blind balustrade set within a shallow semi-circular headed arched recess.

The attached service range to the north has a two-storey, nine-bay west elevation with advanced quoins at the ends and double quoins at the south end. The central three bays contain glazing bar sashes in flush stone surrounds, with tall ground floor windows, the northernmost surround incorporating a key block. A central doorway features an advanced frame and semi-circular head with key block, topped by glazed double doors with a semi-circular fanlight with radiating glazing bars. The northern three bays may be an addition, with glazing bar sashes framed only by ashlar masonry and projecting bands linking cills to both floors. The southern three bays have tall first-floor glazing bar sashes with thick glazing bars and projecting stone frames, while the ground floor contains a nineteenth-century glazing bar sash and a semi-circular headed glazing bar sash with moulded surround incorporating a key block.

Although the interior has undergone substantial twentieth-century alterations, the house retains several good interiors, particularly on the ground floor, which features a handsome decorated plaster ceiling and fine fireplaces. A full-height turned baluster staircase survives in each of the principal and service ranges, with the principal staircase accompanied by decorative plasterwork to the stairwell and landings.

The Reverend Simpson was a subscriber to James Paine's Plans, Elevations and Sections of Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Houses (1767). The Hall is thought to have been designed and built by William Booth of Stoney Middleton, the mason responsible for Paine's Chatsworth Stables.