Bilton Hall

Bilton Hall is a small country house of early to mid 18th-century date, substantially extended and altered around 1865. It is constructed of limestone and brick, rendered and lined in imitation of ashlar, with a graduated slate roof.

The main house is of two storeys and five bays. The south front features a plinth and a central four-panel door with traceried fanlight set within a Doric doorcase with detached fluted columns supporting a triglyphed frieze with paterae and a dentilled pediment. Two-pane sash windows are used throughout, with a round-arched window above the entrance. A modillioned eaves cornice and hipped roof complete the elevation, with stacks to left and right.

The left (garden) return displays three canted bay windows on each floor, each containing two-pane sashes to both sides. Fine lead downpipes with fluted reservoirs and lion badges mounted on brackets are positioned at the far left and right. The right return has a deep moulded plinth across its left three bays and a central panelled door beneath a fanlight with intersecting glazing bars, set within a pedimented doorcase. Seven sashes match those on the entrance front, with those to the right of the door slightly narrower. Downpipes match the south front design.

A north wing was added around 1865.

The interior retains significant 18th and 19th-century features. The main entrance opens into a large hall with flanking principal rooms containing 19th-century stone fireplaces. An inner hall contains a large two-flight staircase with barley-sugar balusters and ramped handrail, lit from above by a glazed ceiling and lantern. The north entrance opens into a narrow passage connecting to the main hall. To the right of this entrance, the kitchen contains a large 18th-century fireplace with sawn-stone surround and flanking recesses. A corridor extends from the kitchen's rear to the service stair and small service rooms. The service stair, dating from the mid 18th century, comprises two straight flights with finely turned knopped column-and-vase balusters. The garden range contains 19th-century fireplaces and four-panel doors. The room at the far left served formerly as an estate office, featuring a corner fireplace and access to a rear service entrance. The centre room contains a large stone bolection-moulded fireplace. Beneath this range lies a brick barrel-vault cellar with stone floor.

The hall was initially owned by the Snawsell family and was sold to Mr Iveson of Leeds around 1700. By the later 18th century it had become the property of the Plumer family. A copy of a painting dated 1792, held by the current owners, depicts the Plumer family in the grounds with views across a lake of the south and east sides. The original square building was either of ashlar or rendered as at present, with narrow pedimented doorcases and windows set in probably stone architraves typical of the period. The 19th-century alterations involved removal of the architraves and insertion of larger windows, as well as construction of large bays to the south side. These extensive alterations necessitated the rendering as it now stands. The large staircase hall may originally have been built into a rear courtyard.