Weston Hall

Weston Hall is a country house of late 16th and early 17th-century origin, built for the Vavasour family. The building combines a late 16th/early 17th-century hall and cross wing, possibly with a medieval core, with a mid-18th-century extension and rebuilding to the west and south sides, and refenestration to the east garden front probably dating to around 1820.

The building is constructed of coursed gritstone rubble with ashlar quoins for the earliest work, coursed squared gritstone for the mid-18th-century work, and edge-tooled ashlar gritstone for later additions. The roof is of graduated gritstone slates and lead. Built on sloping ground, the house comprises a 4-bay main range of two storeys plus basement; a slightly projecting 3 by 4-bay two-storey range with basement to the south; and a projecting one by 3-bay north wing of three storeys plus basement and attic, with a recessed 3-storey half bay to the right. The north wing has a single-storey kitchen and a 3-storey, 2-bay wing to the rear. The west front has six bays across two storeys over basement with plinth and quoins.

The east garden front displays the main range with opposed stone stairs to paired round-arched half-glazed doors with consoles and cornice in bay 3. Two round-arched basement windows with glazing bars flank the staircase landing. To the left is a 3-light mullioned small-paned window; to the right a 4-light flat-faced mullion window. Above bays 1, 2 and 4 are tall 4-light deeply recessed chamfered mullion windows, those to the first floor having round-headed lights, all with cornices matching the entrance. The front features a deep eaves cornice and blocking course. An ashlar ridge stack with a decorated rainwater pipe bearing cock badges of the Vavasour family stands to the far right. The 3-bay range to the left has in bay 1 a sash with glazing bars in a raised surround; bay 2 contains a projecting stack; bay 3 features an 18th-century 18-pane sash in a raised surround. The first floor shows to the left a 3-light mullioned and double-transomed window in a cavetto-moulded surround, and to the right a 5-light corniced window matching the main range, with a stepped eaves-band above. Central paired octagonal flues with a balustrade of reused mullions stand either side. The basement contains a central chamfered single-light window and a 3-light chamfered mullion window to the left. A corner buttress stands at the south-east.

The north range features ovolo-moulded windows throughout. The basement has a 5-light window with one light blocked, flanked by massive buttresses. Three tiers of 10-light canted mullion and transom bay windows with label-stops to hoodmoulds rise above. The gabled parapet features a blind window with hoodmould and tall crocketed pinnacles. A corniced ashlar stack crowns this front.

The early 18th-century west front has six bays with the entrance in bay 4, accessed by a flight of steps leading to a half-glazed panelled door with divided overlight in a raised stone surround. Sashes with glazing bars in raised plain surrounds occur throughout. Staircase windows over the door light the landing levels. A blocked cross window to the first floor right is painted to resemble the existing sashes, which show marks of similar original fenestration. A moulded eaves cornice and hipped roof to the right are punctuated by multi-flued corniced ridge stacks between bays 1 and 2, and bays 5 and 6. The west kitchen range to the north has a projecting gable with two 3-light 17th-century mullioned windows and a 6-light flat-faced mullion window above, with moulded kneelers, copings, and a bellcote.

The south elevation, part of the early 18th-century west range, comprises four bays with 2-light chamfered mullion basement windows in plain surrounds. Ground and first-floor sashes with glazing bars are set in raised surrounds. A deep moulded cornice runs along the length. The north elevation is irregular, featuring a canted bay window at centre with ovolo-moulded mullion windows throughout. Single and 2-light windows appear at ground floor; the first floor shows a 3-light canted window flanked by square windows, the right one with a central mullion; the second floor displays a canted 5-light mullion-and-transom window flanked by cross windows, the left one having elaborate lead cames. A moulded cornice and parapet with panels of double vase balusters complete the front.

The interior contains principal rooms ranged along the east side. The dining room retains late 19th-century panelling. Behind it, the morning room has early 18th-century panelling and cornice. The hall features 6-panel early 18th-century doors in bolection-moulded architraves with pulvinated friezes, contemporary shutters, dado, and ceiling cornice. A late 19th-century wooden overmantel is installed over the fireplace. A round-arched recess in the south-east corner contains the staircase with vase and column balusters. The original entrance to the hall, now concealed in the corridor to the west within an early 18th-century cupboard, is a wide 15th-century shallow pointed arch with moulded chamfered surround and decorated spandrels.

The staircase hall is reached through a thick chimney wall and up five steps. The staircase itself dates to the early 19th century and features slender column balusters and a moulded handrail. The landing ceiling displays an elaborate plaster rose. A 6-panel early 18th-century door gives access to a passage room lined with 17th-century oak panelling and containing two early 18th-century doors, one glazed. Beyond lies the Dragon Room, which contains a large Tudor-arched fireplace with three plaster shields above. The ceiling is supported by a deep cornice decorated with reliefs of early 16th-century armorial badges including flowers and dragons. Early 17th-century panelling also lines the room. A bedroom in the north wing has similar panelling and a stone fireplace with classical motifs. Its timber overmantel has arcaded panels flanked by fluted pilasters surmounted by an inlaid cock and owl, with a central panel inscribed "V M I 1602". The drawing room over the hall contains a complete early 19th-century interior.

Two further staircases are present: a 17th-century example at the junction of the north wing and kitchen range, with vase balusters replaced to the attics by splat balusters, and an early 18th-century knopped column-on-vase baluster staircase serving the west range. A north-east basement room features a Tudor-arched fireplace with three plasterwork shields over and 17th-century cornice.

The family history is linked with the building phases. In 1549, John le Vavasour was described as "of Weston"; his son William was buried at the church in 1587. William's son, Mauger, was knighted in 1603 and married Joan Savile. In 1602, Mauger was selling other properties, possibly to fund work at Weston, and the north wing was rebuilt at this date. Sir Mauger's great-grandson, also named Mauger, died in 1753; either he or his son William was probably responsible for further alterations to the west and south sides. The last Vavasour died in 1833, the estate passing to his nephew William Emsall Carter and through a sister to the Dawson family. Late 19th-century works include re-roofing of the south side in 1884 and the installation of electric light around 1887.