Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 21 March 2022 update and reformat text to current standards

SJ88NW
698-1/11/489

MANCHESTER
Baguley
HALL LANE (East side)
Baguley Hall

25/02/52

I

Manor house, subsequently farmhouse. Probably mid C14, with late medieval north wing (remodelled in C17), C16 porch, late C17 or early C18 south wing; altered. Timber-framed hall, timber-framed north wing subsequently cased in brick, brick south wing, stone slate roofs (renewed).

H-plan: two-and-a-half bay open hall on north-south axis, with slightly bowed sides, wings of approx. Three bays each, and porch in north-west angle. Tall single-storey hall with two-storey porch, two-and-a-half storey wings. The hall has a chamfered sandstone plinth, and an extremely unusual timber frame composed of massive planks, the verticals serving dual function as posts and studs, and the north-west corner formed by a huge L-shaped post approx. 1 metre square on the outer faces; massive sills and wall-plates; cusped cross-bracing in the vertical panels; a two-centred arched doorway at the north end with wooden hoodmould and stump of former finial; a small ogee-headed window to the right of the doorway, and tall wooden-mullioned windows of three and four lights in the first and second main bays respectively (and the rear wall corresponds).

The porch protecting the doorway, of post-and-rail construction with jettied upper floor, has diagonal bracing to a square-headed outer doorway, close-studding in the side wall, square panelling and a three-light mullioned window at first floor, and gable with herringbone-braced kingpost truss and oversailing verges.

Each wing has a three-course band and segmental-headed windows. The north wing has a tripartite window at ground floor, two transomed six-light casements at first floor and a similar but smaller window to the attic, and a lean-to addition to its return side. The south wing has stone-mullioned two-light cellar windows, one six-light window on each floor and remains of former tall flat-arched windows (one at ground floor and two at first floor), and a blocked or blind oculus in the gable; its south return side has a large stair-window offset left, two windows to the left and three to the right on each floor, mostly restored sashes with exposed boxes, plus a small doorway below the stair-window; and its east gable has an extruded chimney stack finished as two flues with tumbled brick between.

Interior: spere truss at north end; arch-braced open truss between bays (rising from "posts" which are really mouldings on the inner faces of the central plank-posts); very fine common-rafter roof with curved scissor-braces longitudinally linked by a central purlin; north cross wall with three two-centred-arched service doorways, cusped panels above these, roof truss with massive splay-footed crown-post "plank", cross-bracing and cusped and quatrefoil panels; moulded decoration to posts, wall-plates and window mullions and sills.

In north wing: double-chamfered beams carrying unusual joist-planks; large inglenook fireplace with timber bressummer; at first floor, remains of C17 turned baluster staircase including unusual balustraded screen (presumably borrowed light to former upper flight). In south wing, staircase with turned balusters unusually widely spaced.

Building mostly stripped out at time of survey.

Listing NGR: SJ8162088736

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Baguley Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4842164

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)