Former army drill hall, Castlebergh Hall

Former drill hall, now Scout hall, 1864 for the West Riding Rifle Volunteers, sponsored by Walter Morrison of Malham Tarn.

MATERIALS: of local stone rubble laid to courses with part-dressed quoins and window surrounds. Ashlar door surround and plinth course. Stone slate roof.

PLAN: built into steeply rising ground with the hall set parallel to and at first floor level relative to Castlebergh Lane, access being via the N gable end accessed by an external flight of steps. At the S end of the hall there is a viewing gallery with a heated room below. The armoury is thought to have been the ground floor/basement room at the N end.

EXTERIOR: of two storeys and five bays with windows to the first floor, W side only, these having 2-centre-arched heads with timber cross mullions. There is a gable end stack to the S. The ground floor appears as a tall plinth with an ashlar top course, the doorway to the ground floor room appearing to have been inserted. The entrance to the hall has an ashlar surround which is simply chamfered. Scarring to the gable end indicates that the external stair was formerly covered, that the main entrance had an added porch and that there was an inserted doorway to its side, now blocked, giving access to an external toilet. The small cast iron door that has been suggested as a collection box is an access door to the base of a disused flue. Attached to the corner of the building above the steps is a bracket thought to have been for a gas street lamp. The S gable is blind.

INTERIOR: the viewing gallery occupies the S bay, accessed by a narrow stair on the E side. The W side of the gallery is partitioned off to form a room. The space below the gallery is also partitioned off with toilets on the W side and a larger room to the centre retaining a fireplace. All of these partitions are thought to be C20. The rest of the hall is undivided and partially open to the roof structure which has a ceiling set just above the collars to the roof trusses. The beam supporting the gallery front has a small brass war memorial plaque recording the names of six men who died in the Second World War.

• Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.