The Hall

The Hall is a country house dating from the early 17th century, significantly remodelled around 1800 in a Gothick style by Thomas Reeve Thornton, and later re-windowed in a Jacobean style around 1912 by Law and Harris. It is a building of group value. The house is constructed of ironstone ashlar with lead roofs and stone internal stacks. Originally an H-plan, it was made double-depth with subsequent alterations.

The front of the house, five bays wide, features a recessed central section flanked by bay windows set within angled wings. A central six-panel double-leaf door sits within a moulded stone architrave with a plain frieze and cornice supported by tapering pendant features—likely of the 18th century in Jacobean style. Flanking this door are two-light leaded arched stone mullion and transom windows, with similar windows to the sides of the bays, the bays themselves featuring four-light windows to the front and ground floor. Tiers of similar four-light windows, without transoms, rise to the first and second floors, diminishing in height. A plinth runs around the base, with string courses above the window heads and below plain stone coped parapets. The parapets are slightly raised over the wings and the recessed centre, incorporating the bases of truncated pinnacles. A four-window park front on the left side displays three-light windows set within slight projections.

The rear elevation retains Gothick pointed arched windows, including a small pointed arched door to the right, positioned below a large two-light window that cuts across the first floor string course to illuminate the staircase. This window exhibits transom and Y-tracery. A projecting bay on the right and a two-storey wing at a right angle to the left end incorporate a 19th-century single-storey billiard room extension, featuring groups of three-pointed arched Gothick sash windows. The right side elevation, overlooking the churchyard, has irregular fenestration of two-, three-, and four-light stone mullion windows, with hood moulds above the first and second floor windows. A projecting staircase tower is also present.

The interior includes a ground floor room with 17th-century panelling assembled from other parts of the house. Most other interiors date to the 18th century, including the Dining Room, which has Gothick plasterwork frieze on miniature corbels. The Staircase Hall features a neo-classical stucco ceiling and a flying staircase with an iron balustrade displaying unusual plant-like forms and a ramped mahogany handrail. A balustrade of identical design, dating from 1801 and created by John Patersson of Edinburgh for Francis Sitwell, can be found at Barmoor Castle, Northumberland. The Drawing Room ceiling is decorated in an Adam style, executed in 1889 by C. Wood. A secondary staircase within the tower has late 17th or early 18th century turned balusters; this is believed to be the original principal staircase.

The Hall was the seat of the Thornton family from 1625 until its recent purchase. Thomas Reeve Thornton, who carried out the alterations around 1800, appears to have acted as his own architect, collaborating with Mr. Webb for the landscaping of the grounds.