Markenfield Hall

Markenfield Hall is a fortified manor house of Grade I importance, built between 1310 and 1323 for John de Markenfield. The building was substantially altered in the late 16th century for Sir Thomas Egerton, further modified around 1780 for Sir Fletcher Norton, first Baron Grantley of Markenfield, and again circa 1850 by J R Walbran for the fourth Lord Grantley. Comprehensive restoration was undertaken from 1981 to 1984 by J S Miller for the seventh Lord Grantley.

The hall is constructed of ashlar and coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, roofed in stone slate, and surrounded by a moat. The buildings are arranged in four ranges around a rectangular courtyard.

The south range contains a 2-storey gatehouse of the 16th century, occupying two bays. The gatehouse features a central four-centred carriage arch flanked by single-light chamfered windows on the ground floor, and two two-light chamfered mullion windows on the first floor. The roof carries kneelers with pyramidal finials and raised verges with coping and ball finial. The left and right returns have a blocked doorway and a two-light chamfered mullion window with hoodmould at first-floor level. A single-arch bridge with band at road level and low gabled parapet spans the moat. Flanking walls, approximately 3.5 metres high, link the gatehouse to the east and west ranges, their gabled coping formed of three courses of stone. Narrow slit openings are cut through each wall, with a gateway and board door to the left.

The low west range, primarily comprising outbuildings probably originally stables and barns now used as stores, extends two storeys. On the courtyard side, it runs to approximately nine bays, with a central barn door flanked by round-arched doorways and double garage doors near the left end. Fenestration is irregular, consisting of chamfered rectangular lights. The rear elevation overlooking the moat retains windows matching the front, and shows the remains of a corbelled external first-floor chimney at the south end.

The east range of accommodation and offices, probably the original entrance to the courtyard, extends two storeys and approximately five bays on the courtyard side. A central blocked archway with 20th-century glazed door and window is flanked by fine moulded 15th-century arched doorways. Single-light chamfered windows are distributed throughout, and three evenly-spaced ridge stacks project from the roof. The rear elevation overlooking the moat features a projecting bay to the right with a 20th-century glazed door set in a Gothic arch, irregular fenestration of one-, two- and three-light mullioned windows, and a corbelled stack at first-floor level to the left.

The principal north range comprises a three-storey L-shaped block at the north-east corner of the courtyard, with a two-storey service block attached to the west end of the north wing. On the courtyard side of the main L-shaped range, significant medieval features survive: a narrow pointed chamfered arch provides access to service rooms, above which the scar of a gabled roof marks where an external staircase once led to a first-floor doorway. An enlarged corner buttress to the left of the ground-floor door encloses a privy. To the right of a blocked first-floor door stand two two-light hall windows with trefoil-headed lights and quatrefoils above. The east wing of the courtyard elevation displays a fine staircase tower with a blocked ground-floor door and narrow lights. A bay added in the early 16th century projects from this wing, featuring a pointed-arch doorway and, in its south wall, a two-light recessed mullion window with moulded reveals to each floor. A moulded first-floor string course runs along the east wing, and both north and east wings carry string courses and embattled parapets.

On the rear of the north wing, facing the moat, three bays are arranged around a central pointed-arch entrance with double doors. A projecting two-storey pent-roofed guarderobe bay projects to the left; four buttresses are positioned to the right. A central external stack, flanked by first-floor hall windows matching those on the courtyard side, rises from this elevation. The rear of the east wing, also facing the moat, shows a board door in a round arch to the left. In the centre at first-floor level stands a chapel window of three trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoils above. To the right are pairs of two-light 16th-century windows on each floor. Five buttresses line this face, and two ornate medieval chimney stacks, restored, rise behind battlements to the right.

The lower two-storey service block at the west end of the north wing originally served as the great kitchen, built in the early 15th century. It features a 20th-century doorway; one two-light mullioned window to the left and two on the upper floor; a row of carved heads and shields set below eaves level; and an external stack to the left with an elaborate crenellated top.

The interior reveals that the entire ground floor of the main building was originally vaulted. The chapel retains its piscina bearing a shield with the Markenfield Arms. The solar and south chamber preserve medieval fireplaces. The great hall's wide fireplace was inserted in the 18th century, when cross-beams were positioned on the wall-walks of the battlements. Restoration work undertaken in 1981 to 1984 by Miller revealed substantial new information about the medieval structure.