Moreby Hall

Moreby Hall is a country house built between 1828 and 1832 by the architect Anthony Salvin for Henry Preston. The date 1830 appears on a fall pipe. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar with a Welsh slate roof and displays Jacobethan architectural style.

The main block is square on plan with a three-stage tower to the north-west and a service block of square plan around a central courtyard set back to the west. These are joined by a single-storey service corridor to the main range.

The main range is two storeys with attics and projecting outer gabled bays. The front elevation comprises three bays arranged 1-1-1, with a three-stage tower and stair turret to the rear of the left return. A moulded plinth continues to form a balustrade with urns. The central bay features a flight of steps leading to a central four-centred entrance with a six-panel double door incorporating Gothic tracery, set within a moulded surround. This is flanked by two-light cavetto-moulded mullion and transom windows under a continuous hoodmould. A first-floor band continues across the wings. The central feature includes a rounded tripartite oriel window, with a low parapet and gable with pinnacle above. The wings are identical, comprising two-storey embattled canted bays with six-light cavetto-moulded mullion and transom windows. Ground floor windows have two levels of transoms, with a continuous second-floor band and two-light mullion windows to the gables. Octagonal stacks sit to the inner side of each gable with finials, and octagonal ridge stacks appear in groups of three.

The garden front (rear) has three bays arranged 1-3-1 with projecting gabled bays to the sides. The central bay features a loggia of five four-centred arches to the ground floor with an embattled canted bay above. Mullion and transom windows throughout have panes of stained glass to the ground floor. The outer gables are surmounted by finials, and the central gable has a flat head crowned by three octagonal stacks.

The tower incorporates a staircase window comprising a four-light mullion window with three levels of transoms and arched lights. Other windows are one- or two-light mullion windows. Second and third-floor bands are present, with battlements incorporating a group of four octagonal stacks. A slightly higher embattled octagonal turret adjoins to the rear left.

The service wing is two storeys with four bays, the rightmost projecting slightly and gabled, with a three-storey single-bay tower to the left. This adjoins the main range by a single-storey six-bay corridor. The entrance to the fourth bay of the corridor comprises six steps to a Tudor-arched long-panel door in a cavetto-moulded surround under a stepped hoodmould. One-, two- and three-light mullion windows are found throughout. The corridor has a low parapet with coping. The tower has a tent roof surmounted by a weather vane. The left return facade features an elliptical carriage arch with chamfered jambs and double 22-panel carriage doors. The inner court has two- and three-light mullion and mullion-and-transom windows.

The interior of the main building centres on an entrance hall with a three-bay arcade opening to a two-storey staircase hall lit by a wooden top lantern. A Tudor-arched chimney-piece occupies one wall. A pointed arch with cluster columns leads to a framed newel Jacobethan oak staircase with griffins and beasts to the newels, with an arcaded balcony to the first floor. The hall contains oak panelling and four probably 19th-century cartoons of nude males in grisaille, reputed to be Italian. The dining room has a coffered ceiling and Jacobethan marble fireplace. The long gallery is lined with Italianate bookcases and has a coffered ceiling. The drawing room is hung with Chinese bird wallpaper of probably late 18th-century date.

The service block contains a cast-iron kitchen range inscribed: "B & E BUSHELL / IRONMONGERS / YORK. / GG FIRST PRIZE MEDALS / AWARDED / EAGLE RANGE / GOLD MEDAL AT HEALTH EXH."

Henry Preston (1779–1857), the original patron, was High Sheriff of North Yorkshire in 1835. The building cost £4,000 to construct. Sir Charles Eastlake specially praised the service wing in his History of the Gothic Revival (1872).