Swarcliffe Hall Now Grosvenor House School

BIRSTWITH LACKON BANK SE 25 NW (west side, off)

14/26 Swarcliffe Hall, now Grosvenor House School

GV II

Country house (Swarcliffe Hall) now school. 1848-50 by Major Rhode Hawkins for John Greenwood of Knowle near Keighley, enlarged 1866-67. Coursed squared gritstone and ashlar, graduated grey slate roofs. Original square house of 2 storeys and 3 bays, facing east, with larger additional wing attached to north with, to rear, a 4-storey tower which in turn has a lower 2-storey service wing attached to north. In a Jacobethan style: Tudor arch and hoodmould to main door in original range, bay 2, flanked by projecting gabled wings with oriel and mullion-and-transom windows with hoodmoulds; continuous dripmoulds, gable copings, ball finials and tall chimneys with 1, 2 and 3 flues. Addition, projecting forward on right, in same style. Rear, west courtyard: date 1850 carved above entrance to original range. Right return: tower with corner pinnacles and a turret. Interior: original reception rooms remain: rear hall with elaborately carved wooden fire surround in Jacobean style, and panelled plaster ceiling; staircase rising from hall has square-section balusters linked by arches; south-east living room has marble fireplaces and patterned tiles. J G Greenwood was a cotton spinner at Keighley and, having bought the Wreaks Mill, Birstwith, in 1805 became a major landowner in the area. B Jennings, A History of Nidderdale, 1967, p 227.

Listing NGR: SE2354659407