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Description: Lower Old Hall & Lower Old Hall Cottage

Address: Lower Old Hall And Lower Old Hall Cottage Norland Town Road Sowerby Bridge Calderdale HX6 3RQ

Grade: IISTAR

Group detail: Norland Town Road (north side), Norland

Full description:
House, rear wing now separate cottage. 1634 for George Taylor. Coursed squared stone, stone slate roof. T shaped; 2 storeys, 3 gabled bays, right one with basement; central rear wing. Left bay set forward; 2-storey porch between right-hand bays. Chamfered plinth; double chamfered mullion and transom windows; continuous moulded string. Left bay: a 6-light window with king mullion to each floor, upper one having hoodmould with rounded terminals flanked by letters 'G' 'T'. Central bay: 9-light window with 8-light window under dripmould above, both with king mullions. Porch: moulded Tudor-arched doorway with lintel dated '1634, GET' (George and Elizabeth Taylor) and with 3 wool sacks; flanking columns have kinked fluting and bases with lozenges and support entablature; above, a moulded pedestal and 3-light window under dripmould flanked by gutter spouts; parapet gabled over window, (as at Fallingworth Hall (qv)); on first floor of left return a trefoil light and of right return a chamfered light; inside, stone benches and moulded Tudor-arched inner doorway. Right bay: basement (possibly originally a wool shop) has steps down to Tudorarched doorway on left of 3-light window; single chamfered 3-light ground floor window; above, a 5-light window under hoodmould with heart stops and date '16' '34'. Gables have moulded coping and finials. Corniced stack to ridges of left bay and double one between right-hand bays. Rear: main range: plinth and string continued. Left bay has a 2-light window, right bay a 2-light window to left of 3-light window, now door, with a 2-light and 3-light window above. Right return: plinth and string continued. In gable of main range a small double chamfered light to first floor. Wing, from left: an ogee-arched doorway; an inserted doorway; a 6-light window (2 mullions removed); a blocked inserted doorway. On first floor an inserted window; a gutter spout, and a 5-light window (2 mullions removed). Stack to right end. Attached barn on right, converted to house not of interest. Interior: central house body: the main feature is the Tudor-arched moulded ashlar fireplace with Carolean baluster-like motifs under stylised heads to jambs, heavily-moulded cornice, frieze reading 'FEARE GOD HONOUR THE KINGE', moulded cornice and elaborate plaster overmantel with royal arms and wording 'DIEU ET MON DROIT, 1635, T, G E' flanked by caryatids under grotesque heads, cherubs and the arms of the Bishops of Cantebury and Earls of Derby. Also noteworthy are the 5 Tudor-arched and basket-arched chamfered doorways and two 6-panel doors with linenfold panelling; the frieze on two walls with cherubs, pregnant women over lions' heads and pomegranates; and the stop-chamfered spine-beams and moulded joists. In the left hand room (parlour) are a square-headed fireplace with deep moulded lintel, the Royal arms (initialled (C R'), the Derby arms and other motifs above it, and stop chamfered moulded spine-beams and joists. The room behind this (service room) has stop-chamfered spine-beams and joists. Stone stair. In Lower Old Hall Cottage (the kitchen) a large chamfered Tudor-arched fireplace. On first floor (of Hall) a stop-chamfered doorway to rear wing (blocked) and 2 other doorways, into the front left room which has a small Tudor-arched moulded fireplace with plaster work of pomegranate tree above, and into the central room which has a chamfered Tudor-arched fireplace. Roof timbers not visible except for base of purlins. L Ambler, (The Old Halls and Manor House of Yorkshire), 1913. H P Kendall, 'Ancient Halls of Norland', (Halifax Antiquarian Society), Vol 2, 1904, pp 93-111. RCHM(E) report (31464).