Description

NZ 62 SE SKELTON & BROTTON SALTBURN LANE (off west side,) Skelton

1/36 Rushpool Hall 8.10.75 G.V. II*

Mansion, now hotel, 1862-63, for John Bell, ironmaster. Interior partly remodelled after fire damage 1904/05, by T.M. Bottomley (Middlesbrough). Rockfaced Cleveland ironstone with sandstone ashlar dressings inlaid with slate ornament. Plain clay tiled roofs. High Victorian Gothic. 2 storeys and attic. Asymmetrical; 5 bays to entrance front (south). The middle bay a projecting 3-stage tower over porch, with round-headed doorway in chamfered, pointed opening with foliate capitals to responds. Ornate metal lanterns on posts flank the doorway. Oriel window to middle stage, enriched with carving. Tripartite upper-stage windows. Crocketed finials at angles of straight parapet, and metal ridge cresting on tall hipped roof. Coupled octagonal stacks at north-east angle. 2-storey canted bay window to left-end bay. All windows grouped pointed sashes. Ornamental shields above ground-floor windows, quatrefoils above first-floor windows. Sill strings and string courses between floors. Straight parapet; crowstepped gable to right end. Steeply-pitched hipped and gabled roofs have tall stacks and enriched roof dormers of varied form. Lower 2-storey service wing, adjoining right end is similar, with 6 pointed openings (middle 2 blank) below canted first-floor oriel. Straight parapet, ornamented stack at right end, and enriched roof dormers. 4-bay garden front (north) has tripartite windows on each floor, except for wider 2-storey half-octagonal right-hand bay with roof dormers to half-pyramidal roof. Chamfered left angle has first-floor balcony with pierced front. Circular 3-stage tower adjoins north-west angle, and has broad bands between stages, bracketed, pierced parapet, and tall conical roof with gablets. Renewed conservatory in keeping adjoins west end, To west of mansion: retaining wall of terrace with pierced parapet, gargoyles, and stair flights at north and south ends, forms frontage to basement Roman bath and contains remains of grotto with quasi-Tuscan columns at south end. Well-preserved interior retains large staircase hall with open stair and gallery, and baroque fireplace of 1897; panelled ceilings with thick raised borders and ornamented cornices. Series of Moorish arches lead to conservatory retaining original tiled pavement. Oak-panelled first-floor billiard room; many carved marble fireplaces retained throughout. Modern fittings blend with original. Tiled Roman bath with ancilliary rooms, at lower level beneath terrace and conservatory.

Listing NGR: NZ6654420541

External Links

• Wikidata Q17534197

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Recommended Books

• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)