Bewerley Old Hall

Bewerley Old Hall is a house dating from the late 16th to early 17th century, likely built for a member of the Darnbrooke family. It is constructed of coursed square gritstone and ashlar, topped with a graduated stone slate roof. The building has two storeys and three bays, along with a two-storey porch that probably dates from the early 18th century.

The porch features an open ground floor supported by side walls and two Tuscan columns. The front of the side walls is cut to match the free-standing columns, although the right side is unfinished, and there is an inserted doorway on the right return. Above the porch is a two-light recessed-chamfered mullion window set in a projecting stone surround, which is mirrored by similar windows in the left and right returns. A moulded string course runs at first floor level, and the roof is hipped.

Inside the porch, there is a board door framed by a deeply-chamfered quoined surround with a flattened four-centred arch. Flanking the porch, both the ground and first floors feature 6-light recessed-chamfered mullion windows with central king mullions, all under hoodmoulds. The building has shaped kneelers, gable copings, and end stacks. There is a two-storey, two-bay addition to the right that is not of special interest.

The interior of the porch has a fine plaster figure in relief depicting a female in 17th-century costume, holding a book and possibly a chalice. The main house interior was not inspected during the resurvey but was previously reported to contain timber-framed and panelled internal walls, fine plasterwork, and original fireplaces.

Bewerley Old Hall was once the manor house of Bewerley and was passed to the Inman family in 1681. In 1774, the estate transferred to John Yorke. A new hall was built in 1815 but was demolished in 1925, after which the Old Hall became the gardener's house, accompanied by two large walled gardens on the east side. The formal garden of box hedges from the Elizabethan period was removed around 1975.