Description

CROSBY

SD3201 BACK LANE, Little Crosby
778-1/5/150 Crosby Hall
04/07/52

GV II*

Manor house. c1784-6 rebuilding of earlier house (with
re-located datestones of 1576 and 1609, and some fabric of the
earlier building surviving internally); subsequently enlarged
but reduced again in 1950s. Sandstone ashlar, 3-span hipped
roofs of green slate.
PLAN: approximately square in plan, with small full-height
corner turrets to the front and a canted bay to the rear.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, 2:1:2 windows, almost symmetrical, with a
modillioned cornice carried round and a small pediment over
the centre flanked by the hipped ends of the side-span roofs.
The centre has a doorway with double part-glazed doors and
moulded architrave with floating cornice, a C19 Venetian
window at 1st floor with a mask in the tympanum and a triple
keystone, a Diocletian window at 2nd floor also with a triple
keystone, and a carved shield of arms in the pediment.
The flanking bays have pairs of windows on each floor, those
at ground floor offset slightly to the right and those at 2nd
floor square, all these windows sashed with glazing bars.
Both corner turrets have plinths; the left turret, which is
blind, has 2 ex situ pieces of carved datestone at 2nd floor
level of the front, the upper lettered "R[]BAB" (with a small
shield between the first 2 letters) and the lower "WB 1576",
and at the same level of its left return side an ex situ
datestone with a shield in the centre, raised letters "WB" and
"EB" on the left and right arms respectively, "NB" on the
shaft, "1609" on the base, and an anvil supported by a bearer
at the top. (Another ex situ datestone built into the wall of
a small rear yard also has the initials WB and the date 1609.)
The right-hand turret has only one very small inserted window
at 1st floor of the re-entrant side and another at 2nd floor
of the front.
Both return sides remodelled after removal of later additions:
that to the left has a C20 brick outshut, and that to the
right (the garden front) now has an ex situ tetrastyle Ionic
portico (removed c1955 from Claughton Hall, Garstang,
Lancashire) and various tall sashed windows. At the rear the
centre has a doorway offset left at ground floor, Venetian and
Diocletian windows at 1st and 2nd floors respectively, and a
pediment; to the left is a full-height 2-storey canted bay
which has tall segmental-headed windows at ground floor (the

library) and short 9-pane sashes above; and to the right the
3-storey 3rd bay has sashed windows on all floors, those at
1st floor much taller than the others.
INTERIOR: entrance hall with flanking mahogany doors and
elliptical arch to stair-hall; morning room to right with low
ceiling and 2 boxed beams; very tall early C19 library to rear
of this, with built-in mahogany bookcases and Classical
frieze; open-well staircase with walnut dado, balustrades and
wreathed handrail. Earlier fabric visible includes stone
mullioned window in pantry at north-east corner,
muntin-and-rail panelled dado to centre and south rooms at 1st
floor, full-height panelling of similar character in north
room at 2nd floor, and at least one C17 roof truss (with
carpenter's mark "II").
HISTORICAL NOTE: manorial home of the Blundell family, lords
of the manor of Little Crosby since medieval times.

Listing NGR: SD3225701484

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Crosby Hall, Merseyside at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5188031

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

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version