Branthwaite Hall

Branthwaite Hall is a tower house with a hall wing, dating from the late 14th century or early 15th century, with a 16th-century wing. It underwent alterations in 1604 and the 1670s, all for the Skelton family. The building features extremely thick walls made of mixed calciferous and red sandstone rubble, some of which are rendered. The roofs are rebuilt with graduated greenslate, and the tower has a parapet with a brick ridge chimney stack.

The square, four-storey tower is accompanied by a three-storey, six-bay hall and a three-storey stair projection. The tower retains many original openings and loops, some of which are blocked, while others have been enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries. There are stone spouts beneath the battlemented parapets. The hall has fenestration from the 1670s, believed to be the work of William Thackeray, which replaced blocked two-light stone-mullioned windows. It features sash windows with glazing bars set in stone architraves beneath ground-floor cornices and upper-floor segmental pediments, including one blocked 17th-century doorway. The left side has 19th-century sash windows in stone surrounds, while the rear has a central stair projection and a left 19th-century plank door in a wooden surround. The building includes two-, three-, and four-light Tudor windows under hoodmoulds, some of which are blocked, and one with a label dated 1604. There are also blocked two-light attic windows and a three-light Tudor window in the stair projection, along with a 17th-century right pent extension.

Inside the tower, the ground floor features double-vaulted chambers, and there is a newel staircase that rises to the roof. Upper-floor rooms contain mural chambers, and there are pointed-arched doorways on two floors connecting the hall and tower. The hall range has blocked 16th-century stone fireplaces on both floors, and there is a newel staircase in the stair projection that serves all three storeys. At the time of the last survey in summer 1985, the building was derelict and unoccupied, although it was owned by the National Coal Board, who were about to begin extensive and sympathetic renovations for office use. Branthwaite Hall is also designated as a scheduled Ancient Monument.