Swinsty Hall

Swinsty Hall is a large house of late 16th and early 17th-century date, built for Francis Wood and Henry Robinson. It is constructed of coursed squared gritstone and ashlar with a graduated stone slate roof.

The building comprises three distinct sections. The main range is of three storeys and four bays. Attached to its left is a recessed west range of two storeys and two bays. A two-storey, three-bay range is attached at right angles to the rear of the west range. The structure features quoins and a plinth throughout.

The main range displays considerable architectural ambition. Bay 1 has a gabled three-storey porch projecting forward. Bays 2 and 3 contain the storeyed hall. Bay 4 comprises a wide projecting gabled wing. Bays 3 and 4 project to the rear as a gable stair wing with small heated rooms, the stairs reached from the rear of the hall at the side of an external lateral stack.

The porch has a deeply moulded round arch with responds and three roses in relief on the soffit. Stone shelves or benches line the interior, and there is a triangular-headed inner entrance with moulded chamfer and fern-leaf motif in the spandrels. Windows throughout feature ogee moulding. The porch first floor has a six-light mullion-and-transom window, returning as cross windows to the left and right returns, with three stepped lights to the gable. Dripmoulds mark the ground- and first-floor porch openings, whilst hoodmoulds are present on all remaining windows.

Bays 2 and 3 feature ten-light mullion-and-transom windows with two king mullions (straight chamfered) at ground and first floors, with two two-light mullioned windows under the eaves. Bay 4 has a four-light mullion window lighting the basement, with six-light mullion-and-transom windows to the ground and first floors, each with a king mullion, and a four-stepped-light window to the gable with two cross windows to the left return at ground and first-floor levels. The gables to bays 1 and 4 are distinguished by elaborate shaped kneelers carrying tall corniced pyramidal finials. A corniced external stack stands to the right.

The rear facade of the main range features a deep-chamfered segmental-arched doorway to the projecting stair wing, which has two-, three- and four-light mullion windows under hoodmoulds, shaped kneelers, gable coping and a corniced gable stack. To the right is a massive external hall stack with a rebuilt banded shaft and a two-light window. The left return shows the scar of a pitched roof at first-floor level.

The west range facade has an original central entrance with roll-moulded lintel and quoined jambs, now blocked, replaced by an inserted doorway far right with plain jambs and a lintel inscribed "T. ? S.". Cavetto-moulded recessed chamfered mullion windows of six and five lights occupy the ground floor, with five-light windows above. A hollow-moulded kneeler and gable coping appear to the left, with central and end rebuilt banded stacks.

The rear range, facing the rear yard of the main range, has a two-storey porch with chamfered quoined surround to the entrance and a shallow triangular-headed lintel. A three-light window under a hoodmould steps in the gable, with shaped kneelers, gable coping and a crocketted finial at the apex. Recessed chamfered mullion windows throughout are of two and four lights with hoodmould. A massive stack to the right gable carries three diagonal corniced flues. The rear elevation has two- and three-light windows under hoodmoulds, with a sash window inserted at ground-floor centre.

The interior of the main range is exceptionally fine. The entrance passage contains a blocked doorway leading to the west range, with the hall entrance to the right. The hall features a large fireplace in its rear wall with a chamfered segmental arch. At the east end, a short flight of five steps leads to a wooden platform enclosed by a balustrade with double balusters and carved scrolled frieze. This platform is at the level of the east wing floor, containing the solar or "oak room" and a small rear room.

Both rooms retain original pegged plank doors and silvered fittings. The oak room contains panelling with scrolled frieze and an overmantel featuring three round arches in relief containing stylised flower motifs. The stone fireplace surround is ovolo-moulded with a shallow triangular head. To the left of the fireplace, the panelling projects slightly to enclose a small closet or privy chamber. The windows contain glazing bars, some wooden, with glass painted "R 1672" and initialled H G. The rear room has two cross beams with reeded chamfer stops carried on corbels. Original beams and doors appear throughout this section. The room above the oak room has a shallow-segmental-arched fireplace with deep chamfer, and a door inscribed "WR 1745". The panelled partition in the room over the hall is reused and has a central door with panels above decorated with scrolls and leaves, inscribed "IR · IR 1639".

The stairs are of stone, consisting of short straight flights extending from the cross wing basement to the third floor within the roof space. The roof structure is exceptionally fine. The hall and cross wing each have two arch-braced collar-beam trusses with short king posts and cusped wind braces to two tiers of purlins and ridge, with a smaller version over the porch. The timbers have plain chamfers. The feet of the trusses rest on stone corbels.

The interior of the west range to the left contains a large back-to-back fireplace at ground floor, with moulded chamfers to the fire surround in the parlour to the left. This room has a fine beamed ceiling divided into small squares, with timbers featuring deep chamfers and run-out stops. A roll moulding appears on the fireplace at first-floor level to the left. Two king-post roof trusses with reused timbers are present.

The interior of the rear range has an entrance onto the side of a massive fireplace with a deeply-chamfered cambered arch and oven in the rear wall. Stone corbels carry spine beams.

The documented history illuminates the building's construction. In 1575, Ralph Wood made a marriage settlement for his son Francis with Henry Sorell of North Grange, whereby Henry was to pay Ralph a sum of money and Ralph was to build a house at Swinsty for Francis and Ellen, Henry's daughter. In 1590, the hall became the property of Henry Robinson of Old Lound, Lancashire, and in 1596 Ralph and Francis Wood sold other cottages and land in Little Timble to him. These transactions account for the varied architectural features in the main range. The left gable scar, cross passage, lateral stack plan and roof trusses suggest a late 16th-century house, whilst the facade with its storeyed porch, stepped lights and glazing dated 1627 indicate that Henry Robinson drastically remodelled the building in the early 17th century. The low range and rear block are also early 17th-century in character but may pre-date the main range and became service rooms after its construction; the rear block was probably originally an oven house or kitchen wing.