Lower Soughton Hall

Lower Soughton Hall is a large asymmetrical house in simple Tudor style, comprising two storeys and attics. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings under slate roofs with grouped brick stacks.

The entrance front faces north and features three gabled blocks stepped back from left to right, with a lower service range adjoining to the left. A gabled porch to the left of the central block contains a Tudor-arched stone doorcase with a blank tablet above supporting a light. The flat-headed ribbed wooden door inside the porch features iron strapwork. The central block has a six-light window to the first floor and a blocked light to the attic, with a small stairlight to the right in a narrow flat-roofed bay. The left block contains a five-light window with hoodmould to the ground floor, two cross windows above, and a short four-light window to the attic. Between the left and central gables is a stack with diagonally-set partly attached shafts. The right return of the central block has small windows to each storey. The right block has a four-light window with hoodmould to the ground floor and a smaller four-light window above. The service range has two windows to the ground (a three-light to the right and a two-light to the left) and a short six-light window to the attic storey.

Architectural detail includes raised stone copings to gables with kneelers and pyramidal finials, stone quoins, a brick plinth (stone to the west range), and square-headed stone mullioned windows with ovolo-moulded mullions and transoms. Most windows now contain renewed casement windows with quarry glazing.

The west side of the house features an added bay window to the centre with a hipped roof containing a five-light window and a two-light window above. Flanking lateral stacks have three octagonal shafts to the left and stone quoins with two diagonally-set shafts to the right. At the far right is a single light blocked with brick and a two-light window above.

The garden front faces south and has a central range flanked by two advanced gabled wings. A late 20th-century single-storey conservatory of red brick with parapets and stone dressings stands in front of the central range, with double doors and flanking lights of decorative glazing with quarries. To the first floor is a short eleven-light window, with a stack to the right bearing four octagonal shafts. The left gable end has four-light windows to each storey, matching the north end of the range. An added canted bay window with parapets is present to the right gabled wing with a four-light window above. A truncated stack to the right return has lead capping. The service range has a two-light window to the left with a three-light window above, and a three-light gabled oriel on five stone corbels to the right, possibly later.

The east end of the house comprises two gables with a linking range facing into a small service courtyard. A projecting stack to the left gable end has three truncated shafts with moulded caps. To the left is a small light to the upper storey; to the right is a three-light window. The linking range has a two-light window over a three-light window. The advanced right gable end has a 20th-century door in the left return with a light above; the gable itself has a three-light window with two small lights below. The courtyard is enclosed by tall red brick walls to the north and south sides with moulded stone copings and altered openings. At the east end, these join a small two-storey brick house (possibly originally for domestic staff) with a corbelled stack to the south side bearing two octagonal shafts, a similar ridge stack to the north, saw-tooth dentilled eaves, moulded string course, and plain stone dressings to openings with replaced doors and wooden casement windows.

Interior

The entrance vestibule has a Tudor arch, with a cloakroom to the right under the stairs and a small stone fireplace to the left. This leads into a large hall with an openwell staircase to the rear, featuring turned balusters, square chamfered newels and ball finials. A large decorated oak fireplace to the left has a Tudor-arched head with fluting to the overmantel. The ceiling is canted with strapwork and foliage frieze, and full-height wooden panelling dates from around 1900. Other detail includes panelled doors, some altered around 1900, and renewed casement windows set further in than the originals. A wide opening straight ahead leads into a late 20th-century conservatory, flanked by two-light windows (originally to the exterior).

To the right (west) of the hall is a long narrow room, formerly two rooms, which appears to be part of an earlier phase, possibly the original house. It contains a large Jacobean-style fireplace on the west wall, brought from a former nunnery, and has a deep ceiling cornice of hand-made plaster with flower decoration.

A passage between the vestibule and hall leads east, with a dining room to the right featuring moulded coving, a foliate ceiling rose and a dark grey marble fireplace. On the left side of the passage is a back staircase and former breakfast room containing a renewed fireplace with a brick arched head and wooden panelling. Service rooms straight ahead down some steps include the kitchen and former butler's pantry. A doorway with stairs leads to cellars of stone and brick construction with flagstone floors, including two vaulted chambers.

On the first floor landing, the balusters continue around the staircase well, with rooms leading off. The west rooms have unusual canted and moulded ceilings, their shape possibly reflecting the roof structure of the earlier house; some stone lintels have been found behind them. A large bedroom above the hall has a central wooden arch, probably dating from the 19th century, though some parts appear to be reused. A short passage leads east to the back staircase and a short flight to the attic storey, which has boxed-in beams. The 19th-century roof trusses in the loft include earlier examples at the west end. The upper storey rooms over the service area have canted ceilings.