Kirkby Hall

Kirkby Hall is a farmhouse and outbuilding with a complex development history, beginning in about 1450 with the east wing, followed by the hall and west wing around 1530. The building is constructed of roughcast stone rubble with sandstone ashlar dressings, topped with a slate roof.

The south elevation is two storeys and four bays. The west end has a hipped roof, replacing the original gable of the first bay. The fourth bay, the east wing, is slightly canted. It has 3-light double-chamfered mullioned windows with label moulds. The first bay on the ground floor has a 4-light window, and the second bay features a 4-light bay window covered by a lean-to roof. The entrance to the third bay has a centred head and continuous moulding. The building features a cross-axial stack and a gable-end stack, both with rounded shafts.

An outbuilding attached to the southwest angle by a wall containing bee boles is partly ruinous and retains remains of two cruck trusses. The west elevation features a large projecting lateral stack with a rounded shaft, along with a ground floor casement window and a blocked first-floor window. The north elevation shows a large projecting lateral stack with set-offs and a rounded shaft; the east wing has a gable-end stack with paired rounded shafts; and a smaller gabled wing extends to the west. Casement windows are present on the north and west elevations.

Internally, the entrance passage contains a timber partition wall leading to the hall and a spiral stair with oak baulks. The hall has a large fireplace with a 3-centred arch. A diagonal passage in the northwest angle leads to the dairy, which has slate shelving. A wing contains a fireplace with a 3-centred arch and a small closet in the angle. The first floor of the east wing contains a fireplace with a 16th-century plaster overmantel. A chapel in the west wing is accessible via a trap door in the dairy passage and has an open kingpost roof with arch braces and struts. Significant wall paintings in red ochre and black depict stylized trees, animals, birds, and texts including the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and Galations 5, 16-21 (referencing the Great Bible of 1541). Also present is a blocked fireplace with a 4-centred head and a mural closet, possibly the remains of a spiral stair from the parlour. The hall features king post trusses similar to those in the chapel, while the east wing has queen post trusses. Kirkby Hall is an important example of an early manor house, exhibiting group value due to its historical significance and remarkable survival of original features.