Farnley Hall

Farnley Hall is a country house with a complex history, dating back to the 17th century and significantly altered in the 18th and 19th centuries. The main ranges were restored around 1870 and constructed between 1786 and 1790 by the noted architect John Carr for Walter Beaumont Ramsden Fawkes. The building is constructed of coursed squared gritstone and ashlar, with stone slate and lead roofs.

The house comprises a principal 18th-century block with an L-shaped 17th- and 19th-century range to the rear. The front of the 18th-century range is two storeys with five bays, while the rear range is two and three storeys with three bays. The front features a central pair of glazed double doors framed by engaged Tuscan columns, supporting an entablature and triangular pediment. The windows are sashes with glazing bars; the ground floor sashes in the central bay are round-headed. A wooden cornice was removed in the mid-20th century. Architectural detailing includes a sill band to the ground floor, a guilloche band at first-floor level, a dentilled cornice, and a balustraded parapet. Corniced stacks flank the central block, with further stacks to the left and right. The returns on the left are similar in style, with stone moulded architraves to all windows and floating cornices on the ground floor.

The rear range’s east side has an irregular fenestration pattern. A central porch, dating back to the 17th century, is topped by Doric columns supporting an entablature, elaborate scrolls, and finials. Flanking this are 19th-century bays containing round-headed lights and mullion and transom windows; other windows are from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Three false gables, also from the 19th century, are situated above with blocked round-headed windows.

The interior of the 18th-century range contains a fine staircase hall with a cantilevered Imperial staircase, along with Ionic (ground floor) and Corinthian (first floor) columns in antis. Detailed room descriptions and decorative schemes are documented in Country Life, 27 May 1954, pages 1714-1717. The rear range has fine linen-fold panelling, carved overmantles, and an early 18th-century open well staircase with a ramped handrail, much of which was likely introduced to Farnley during the late 19th century, as described in Country Life, 20 May 1954.

Historically, the house was visited in 1796 by Thomas Girtin and J.M.W. Turner, with Turner becoming a close friend of Walter Fawkes (died 1825). Turner spent 13 summers at Farnley, gifting over 200 paintings to the family, of which approximately 29 remain. Additionally, the house contains a collection of relics from the English Civil War, including Cromwell’s sword and hat, and Fairfax’s sword, as noted in H. Speight’s Upper Wharfedale, London, 1900, page 104.