Croft Hall

NZ 2809-2909 10/44 19.12.51

CROFT-ON-TEES RICHMOND ROAD (south side) Croft Hall

GV II

Manor house. Probably C15 in origin, and probably rebuilt in late C16, classicised in early C18, altered c1845. C15 work for Sir Richard Clervaux, C16 work for Christopher Chaytor, early C18 work for William Chaytor; C19 work for Sir William Chaytor, probably by Ignatius Bonomi. Roughcast over red sandstone rubble with painted ashlar dressings; C20 clay pantile roof. Formerly U-shaped, now L-shaped with rear wing to right; other additions to rear and rear left not of special interest. 3 storeys, main range of 4 bays. Chamfered plinth. Chamfered rusticated quoins. Central 8-panel door below overlight with decorative glazing bars in keyed surround with bases. Sash windows with glazing bars and crown glass in keyed surrounds, the second-floor windows half-size and of 6-panes. Coped parapet partly masking hipped roof with dormer window. Small brick stack at left end; large old stack between first and second bays partly demolished. Rear of wing: 1 bay; on ground and first floors, a tripartite window with keyed surround; on second floor a 6-pane sash in keyed surround. Right return: 2 bays, on ground floor to left, French window below overlight in keyed surround, with blind sash window in keyed surround above on first floor and 4-pane sash in keyed surround on second floor; lead rainwater pipe and hopper head draining roof valley; stack between bays; in second bay, on ground and first floors, a tripartite window, sashes with glazing bars in ashlar surround, and on second floor two 4-pane windows in keyed surrounds. Interior: ground-floor doors off central hall have 6 reeded panels; C19 curving open well staircase, formerly with stick balusters, now has C20 turned balusters. Blocked 4-light mullion internal window, noted on former list description, has been removed. Main range is only one room deep, and had very large chimney between first and second bays. A new chamber was added to Croft Hall by John Clervaux d1443, whose bequests to his son Richard included a hanging and canopy of arras for the dais in the hall. Richard Clervaux set up a private chapel there licensed in 1453, and may have carried out further improvements. His descendant Elizabeth married Christopher Chaytor, a merchant adventurer of Newcastle, whose son Anthony inherited Croft in 1590. It has remained in the Chaytor family since, although the seat was abandoned when Sir William Chaytor built Clervaux Castle nearby, to designs by Ignatius Bonomi, 1842-3 (demolished 1951). A J Pollard, "Richard Clervaux of Croft", Yorkshire Archaeological Journal (1978), pp 51-175; VCH i, p 163.

Listing NGR: NZ2878809559