Leathley Hall

Leathley Hall is a house dating from the early 18th century to the 19th century. It is constructed of coursed squared gritstone with a graduated stone slate roof. The building has two storeys and features nine first-floor windows, with the central three-window block slightly projecting and gabled. The wings and central block have alternate chamfered quoins. The central entrance has 20th-century glazed double doors with a fanlight, flanked by columns and an open pediment. The central block and its flanking wings have narrow 8-pane sash windows with moulded architraves on the first floor, while the wings feature larger sashes with glazing bars and moulded architraves on both floors. A string-course at first-floor level curves up to the quoins of the side wings. The gable of the central block and the left end have shaped kneelers. The roof is M-shaped, with ashlar coping on the left and a hipped roof on the right, and there are ridge stacks to the left and flanking the central block. The interior has not been inspected. Historically, the house served as the manor house of Leathley until it was sold to Walter Ramsden Fawkes of Farnley in the second half of the 18th century. The title 'Manor house' is now used for another, smaller house in the village. Robert Hitch, who died in 1723, was the Lord of the Manor in the early 18th century, and his diary entry from 13 February 1718 notes that he was enhancing the house with a new south front, an east wing, and various outbuildings, gardens, and other improvements. For more details, refer to H Speight's book, Upper Wharfedale, published in London in 1900, page 112.