Mabws Hall

Mabws Hall

A substantial rubric-built house of L-plan form, comprising a main south front with a shorter east front. The structure rises to three storeys with basement on the sloping left side. It is roofed with massive hipped slate, the ridge positioned off-centre. Wide eaves are supported by large paired brackets. Late 19th-century yellow brick chimney stacks are positioned at the left end, two left of centre (one at the ridge and one in front on the slope), one at the right ridge, and another to the rear right.

The main south front displays seven bays across three storeys. Windows to the upper three of six bays are hornless sash windows with three over six panes; the remainder are six over six hornless sashes. The window frames are moulded and appear to be 18th century in origin, though the sashes themselves are 19th century. The window frames are moulded and look 18th century, but the sashes are 19th century. Ground floor windows are blocked to the third bay from the left and to both right bays. The basement has two 19th-century six over six horned sashes. All windows have cambered stone voussoired heads and slate sills. A door is positioned in the fifth bay, set within an added stone porch featuring a round arched entry.

The east front, probably the original 17th-century entrance facade, comprises five bays across three storeys. Ground and first floor windows have steeply cambered heads formed of rough stone voussoirs. The second floor, which appears to be a later addition, displays different stonework with window heads matching the front. Upper windows correspond with the south front. The ground floor contains tall four over four horned sashes, likely lowered during the 19th century.

The rear elevation shows the north end of the original house to the left, with the rear of the added three bays set back to the right. The original section is broad, possibly originally four bays, now displaying mixed fenestration. A massive stepped buttress rises to the second floor right of centre. Three second floor square windows are present, one blocked. To the first floor, a blocked window with original cambered head sits to the left, above a later six over six sash to the right. A narrow four over four sash is positioned at the centre. The ground floor features a late 19th-century two-four-two-pane canted bay to the left, a six-pane light in a larger opening at centre, and an added brick lean-to to the right. The west end wall contains a full-height basement and large chimneybreast, with the upper part roughly stepped, presumably dating from when the house was raised. A lean-to at the base of the chimney serves as a porch to a separate dwelling to the rear. The first floor (ground floor elsewhere) has a six over six sash centre right and a tier of three six over six stair-lights in the angle to the extreme right. The middle stair-light retains original cambered voussoirs above. The added west end section is clearly distinguished by the way the rear north wall curves inward to accommodate the stair lights. This north wall has a basement porch and six over six sashes to both ground and first floors above. The west end of the main range features bracket eaves as on the south front but is otherwise windowless. A rubble shed is attached.

Internally, a late 17th-century open-well staircase rises to the second floor, featuring closed strings with convex moulding, thick balusters (part-twisted and part-turned), broad moulded handrails, and plain square newels, with later turned supporting posts. The ground floor contains 18th-century beams with roll-mouldings. The Drawing Room (south-east) features a good 18th-century timber chimneypiece with lugged surround and scrolled sides, a central tablet to the moulded mantleshelf, good 18th-century doors with six raised and fielded panels and thick architraves, and panelled window shutters. The Dining Room (north-east) contains a Victorian fireplace. The entrance hall, formed from a passage and small room, has a 19th-century fireplace. The north-west kitchen contains a chamfered beam. Large basement service rooms include a housekeeper's room with a Victorian cast iron range and a kitchen with a massive iron range and later chamfered central post running through the centre of the table. A small brick-vaulted cellar sits beneath the west addition. The first floor displays 18th-century lugged timber fire-surrounds, each with a central tablet to the mantlepiece carved with varied simple designs. Some beams retain roll-moulding, though most beams have been replaced with iron railway lines. Six-panel raised and fielded doors are present throughout. Wide oak floorboards cover the floors. The second floor features simpler doors and chimneypieces. Roof trusses are probably late 19th-century sawn timber. A massively thick wall divides the old house from the added west section.