Blackburn Hall

Blackburn Hall is a manor house, incorporating parts dating back to the medieval period and significantly remodelled and enlarged in 1635. It was built for Elizabeth Hutton, who married into the Blackburn family. The building is constructed of rubble with crude quoins, and has a stone slate roof. The layout is L-shaped, consisting of a cross-wing believed to be medieval, set at right angles to a main range built in 1635. An outshut, situated within the angle of the two wings, contains the stairs.

The 1635 range has three storeys. It features chamfered mullioned windows protected by dripmoulds in the shape of a pediment. The first floor has two three-light windows; the ground floor, one two-light window and a doorway on the right. The doorway has chamfered stone jambs, a four-centred arch, and a boarded door. The right-hand side has a kneeler and ashlar coping. Two ridge stacks are present, one at the left end and the other centrally, this one inscribed with ‘--1635’. The front gable end of the medieval cross-wing has a three-light window on each floor, and a chimney at the apex. The rear elevation of the 1635 range includes a three-light window and an added canted bay on the ground floor, along with a two-light window on the first floor. The right-hand gable wall of the 1635 range displays mullioned windows on all floors. The left return of the cross-wing has five mullioned windows and a plain doorway with an 18th-century four-panelled door.

Inside the 1635 range, the entrance is located behind a fireplace featuring a roll-moulded arris and a four-centred arch with a keystone. In the spandrels of the arch are the initials ‘EH’ and ‘B 1635’. The first floor has cambered beams. The stone staircase runs in a straight flight within the outshut. The earlier range is thought to be of medieval date and may have served as lodgings for canons of Bridlington Priory, who administered the local church. The house subsequently became the Nether Hall of West Grinton Manor and was acquired by the Blackburn family of Richmond and Swaledale in the 17th century.