Description

NZ 21 NW HIGH CONISCLIFFE B6279 (Staindrop Road)
(North side, off)
5/106 Thornton Hall
6/6/52
GV I
Manor house now farmhouse. Front range c.1550 for Ralph Tailbois; c.1630 rear
range for Sir Francis Bowes; C18 and c.1880 alterations and additions. Coursed
rubble. Ridged concrete tiles and Welsh slates. Stone chimneys. Hall and
projecting cross wing to right (left cross wing has been removed). 2-storey
extruded porch at right of hall. Added right rear range. Narrower rear
extension at left. Small c.1880 one-storey addition to left of hall block.
Front range: 2 storeys plus attics; gabled hall and cross wing, both 2 bays
wide; porch at junction. Porch has bolection-moulded doorway, sash and parapet
with blank shields and gargoyles. Blocked round-headed light on left return of
porch. First-floor sashes in moulded C18 surrounds, blocked in end bays.
3-light, partly-blocked mullioned windows, with arched heads under hoodmoulds,
in attics. Embattled parapet at left and between gables. Steeply-pitched roof
with coped gables. Corniced left end stack. Tall stack on valley to right.
3-storey right return of 2 builds with straight joint. Wider 2-bay front
section: bolection-moulded doorway with pulvinated frieze and scrolled pediment;
sashes and blocked cross windows in architraves, all but one under scrolled
pediments; steeply-pitched roof behind parapet. 2-bay later rear section:
3-light mullioned-and-transomed windows, mostly part-blocked or sashed; floating
cornices over with centres forming triangular pediments on ground floor and
semicircular pediments on first floor; 4-pane light in eared architrave below
eaves; low-pitched roof.
Irregular left return: behind gable end of hall range is another gabled extension
with chamfered window surrounds; main rear range has blocked or sashed 2- and
3-light mullioned windows, some with transoms.
Twin-gabled, 3-storey rear has blocked or sashed 2-light mullioned windows and
cross windows; low-pitched 2-span roof.
One-storey, 2-bay c.1880 addition, on left of hall block, has sashes and a
steeply-pitched roof.
Interior: ground-floor hall (now kitchen and passage) has c.1550 chamfered
oak beams with Flamboyant carving and cyphers referring to Ralph Tailbois.
Early C18 panelling in ground-floor room at right. Mid C17 open-well staircase
with closed string, bold turned balusters and moulded handrail; possibly late
C17 columnar newel posts linking flights. First-floor subdivided bedroom has
damaged late C16 plaster ceiling with intersecting ribs, fleurs-de-lys, shells
and the Tailbois coat of arms. Front attic has plaster floor, studded partition
wall and Tudor-arched wood door lintel with initials of Ralph Tailbois.
Late C19 single-storey wing on left of front range is not of special interest.
(G.A. Fothergill, "Thornton Hall", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries
of Newcastle-on-Tyne, Volume III, No. 3, 1908).

Listing NGR: NZ2381816991

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Thornton Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7796532

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.

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