Gazebo And Garden Walls Attached To Aislaby Hall

The gazebo and garden walls attached to Aislaby Hall were built in the early 18th century for Thomas Hayes. The gazebo is constructed of red brick in English garden wall bond on three sides, while the fourth side facing the street is made of dressed sandstone. It features raised and chamfered sandstone quoins, a sandstone ashlar doorcase, and dressings. The roof is made of stone slate and topped with a wrought-iron finial and weather-vane. The garden side walls are of red brick in English garden wall bond, while the outer side of the west wall is squared sandstone with ashlar piers and flat coping. The outer side of the south wall is made of coursed sandstone rubble banded with red brick. These walls enclose the garden of Aislaby Hall to the north and east.

The gazebo is square in plan, located in the south-west corner, and consists of one storey and a semi-basement with one bay. It has a part-glazed and panelled door set in a pedimented Doric doorcase with fluted pilaster jambs, accessed by a flight of stone steps with wave-shaped tread ends and a ramped-up handrail on stick railings, with iron-twist railings on the top step. The eaves cornice is cavetto-moulded, and the pyramidal roof is topped with a finial and dragon weather-vane. The returns of the gazebo have radial-glazed sashes in archivolts with triple keyblocks and plain imposts, along with raised sill bands. The west wall is approximately 4 metres high and features a central round-headed door of fielded panelling in a rusticated Gibbs surround, flanked by pilaster buttresses, with a third buttress further to the left. The south wall is approximately 5.5 metres high and is banded with brick flues heated from a fireplace in the gazebo.

Inside the gazebo, there is a chimney-piece with a carved fretwork frieze and jambs, a cupboard door with six fielded panels, and panelled shutters with window seats in keyed round-arched recesses. The interior also includes a moulded dado rail and a modillion cornice. A ceiling painting from the 18th century is noted to be in need of restoration at the time of the resurvey.