Description

ACKWORTH PURSTON LANE
SE41NW
(west side) High
Ackworth
2/22 The Old Hall and
6.6.1952 attached garden wall to
front (formerly listed
as "The Old Hall")
- II*

Lesser gentry hall-house, now house. Later C17, altered; restoration in
progress at time of survey (1987). Coursed squared sandstone, stone slate
roof. T-plan formed by 2-unit end-lobby-entry front range with single-unit
rear wing. Symmetrical 2½-storey twin-gabled south front with 5 first-floor
windows; chamfered plinth, dripbands on 2 levels (carried round); inserted
central doorway with 3-light overlight, 3-light double-chamfered mullioned
windows on all floors, mostly with geometrical leaded glazing and many with
renewed mullions and/or surrounds: all 4 at ground floor transomed and with
lowered sills (the lower lights with plain glazing); one attic window with
hoodmould in each gable (now of renewed masonry), ridged gable and parapet
copings (in course of renewal). External chimney stacks to both gable walls;
the left gable wall has a single-light window forward of the stack; the
right-hand gable wall has a cross-window at ground floor and a 2-light window
above (also forward of the stack), and the rear wall at this end has a Tudor-
arched doorway (formerly the main entrance) and a 3-light window above. The
east side of the rear wing has a similar Tudor-arched doorway next to the
rear corner, a transomed 3-light window to the left, three 2-light windows at
1st floor, and an attic gable with a 2-light window (renewed masonry at this
level). The west side of this wing has an unusual squint window in the angle
with the front range, a cross-window and a 6-light window to the left at
ground floor, and windows above these of 2 and 3 lights respectively. (All
these windows have leaded glazing matching the front). Attached in front of
the main range a garden wall of large blocks with rounded coping encloses a
rectangular garden approx. 15 metres wide and 10 metres deep, with a gateway
in line with the front door.
Interior: parlour (to left) has muntin-and-rail panelling, Tudor-arched
fireplace with fluted pilasters to Renaissance-style overmantel; housebody
(to right), partly partitioned to make entrance passage, has similar Tudor-
arched fireplace, and large chamfered spine beam; kitchen in rear wing has
very fine arched stone fireplace approx. 3 metres wide, with chamfered
surround, and Tudor-arched doorway to lobby entrance on the right; fine full-
height dog-legged staircase has square newels with ball finials and turned
balusters; chamber over housebody (now partitioned) has moulded plastered
beams; attic contains 5 collar trusses with knee braces to collars, and angle
struts.

Listing NGR: SE4384418010

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17550401

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (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]