Mewith Head Hall, Wall To Garden And Gatepiers

Mewith Head Hall is a large house dating from the early 18th century, with alterations made in the 19th century for the Baynes family. It is constructed of slobbered water-shot masonry with stone dressings and a stone slate roof. The house is arranged around a central staircase plan, with two storeys and two bays to the side wings, and two bays over three storeys to the projecting central piece.

The central entrance is framed by a Doric surround with pilasters, a frieze of metopes, triglyphs, and guttae, and an open segmental pediment. Above the door is a round-headed fanlight with a moulded surround, and the door itself is of nine panels, the upper three being diamond-moulded. Windows are cross-windows with moulded architraves, flat-faced mullions, and transoms, with six windows to the ground and first floors, and two to the third. A stringcourse rises above the lintel of each row of windows. A slate sundial, with an iron gnomon within a moulded architrave, sits above the entrance. Quoins mark the gable ends and the central piece, and the roof features shaped gable kneelers, with one on the left being re-set within a 19th-century weather wall. Gable end stacks and stacks flank the central piece.

At the rear, two storeys are visible with four bays; the two central bays are gabled. A four-light chamfered mullioned and transomed window with a king mullion on both floors is in the left bay, with a hood mould over the ground floor. The right bay features a three-light chamfered mullioned and transomed window with a dripstone to both floors. The two centre bays contain two-light chamfered mullioned and transomed windows on both floors, and a large stair window with a moulded architrave and a two-light chamfered mullioned and transomed window in the gable. Gable kneelers are also present on the centre gable.

Inside, the dining room and the principal bedroom above the staircase hall are panelled and have early 18th century bolection moulded fireplaces. Six-panel doors are throughout. A similar fireplace is found in an additional bedroom. The large kitchen fireplace incorporates plain jambs on a square base, moulded impost level, twelve voussoirs, and a projecting keystone. The roof is a king-post design with a collar and tie beam, and trenched purlins.

A rubble wall runs along the garden, with entrances on each side in a style consistent with the early 18th century. The gatepiers are of ashlar, featuring rusticated shafts, moulded flanges to the inner faces, a moulded cap with a cornice, and ball finials.