Details
BEDALE
1018/8/41 NORTH END
06-FEB-86 (West,off)
AMEN HOUSE, WALLS, FIVES COURT, STORE,
AND YARD TO WEST OF BEDALE HALL
(Formerly listed as:
NORTH END
HOUSE AND WALL ATTACHED TO WEST WITH C
ENTRAL BLOCK AND STORES (30 METRES WES
T OF BEDALE HALL))
GV II
House, walls, former Fives Court, Store and yard, west of Bedale Hall, dating to c.1735 and later with additions and alterations.
MATERIALS: hand-made brick, shaped coursed rubble limestone, with roofs in stone slate, pantile and concrete tile.
PLAN: Amen House is situated to the west of Bedale Hall, aligned approximately north-south with a wing at its southern end extending eastwards and another shorter section at its northern end extending westwards. A wall to the north extends west to the Fives Court and beyond to the north end of the store. A further wall runs from the south-west corner of Amen House to the south-east corner of the store. West of the store is a yard with buildings on the north side, enclosed by walls.
AMEN HOUSE EXTERIOR: Amen House is two storeys with hipped slate and concrete tile roofs, constructed of a mixture of red and grey handmade brick in garden-wall bond, and coursed stone rubble. The south elevation is in stone with a higher two- bay section to the west with two altered multi-paned sash windows on each floor. To the east a lower section also has two windows to each floor. The east end of this wing is gabled and is cement rendered brick, with an entrance to the left and a window above. The north elevation of this wing is brick and has three blind recessed archways, of which the right hand has a semi-circular window inserted at the top.
The east elevation of the main range which faces Bedale Hall has five bays, the central three breaking forward beneath a pediment which has a stepped and dentilled cornice. The half-glazed door is in the centre and has an eared stone architrave with frieze, cornice and pediment. It is set in a round-arched recess which has a small four-light window at the top. The bay to each side has a window in a stone architrave with C20 glazing, and an impost band at first floor. The first floor windows also have stone architraves and are six-pane sashes. The outer bays have lower round-arched recesses with impost bands and six-pane casement windows. The right return (north facing) of the main range has two ground floor six-over-six sashes in stone architraves and three first floor three-over-three sashes also in stone architraves. The rear has a projecting wing to the left (north) with a hipped roof and a blocked semi-circular opening at the first floor with stone keystone and impost. The south side of this wing is in coursed rubble with brick infill around inserted windows. The main range of the rear (west) elevation is in coursed rubble, with three eight-over-eight sashes and one 12-over-16 sash, all later insertions with concrete cills and lintels, at first floor, and a door to the right and two windows in the same style at ground level. To the left is a Tudor-arched timber door in a square stone architrave, with strap hinges. Single storey outbuildings extend to the west.
AMEN HOUSE INTERIOR: The interior of the south wing of Amen House has two beams exposed on the second floor, possibly late insertions, and has otherwise been entirely remodelled as offices in the C21. The main part of the building was adapted to a domestic dwelling in the late-C20, and contains some architraves, a staircase and a late-C19 fireplace which probably dates from this conversion. The roof structure, approached from an inserted staircase in the main house, is original. The main range has heavy purlins and two main trusses with tie beams. At the north end a partition wall with a plank door leads into the hipped roof of the north wing with pegged timbers in queen-strut trusses. The south wing roof was not inspected.
WALLS & FIVES COURT EXTERIOR: A brick wall runs from the south-west corner of the north wing of Amen House to the south-east corner of a small brick building (Fives Court). This has a blind façade on its north elevation, with a central round-arched door flanked by flat-arched doorways each with a square opening above. It is topped by machicolations and an embattled parapet with stone copings which continue on the east elevation. The south elevation, which has a single inserted window, has been rebuilt with a lower section to the west, and the interior has been infilled in the C21, with a roof sloping to the west. This adjoins a small single-storey brick office building of the C21 to the west (not of special interest). The brick wall with stone coping continues westwards from the north-west corner of the Fives Court to join the north-east corner of a large store building. Another wall runs from south-west of Amen House to join the south-east corner of the store building, in stone rubble with brick patching and stone coping. To the west of the opening to the Fives Court this wall rises in a series of sloping steps to the height of the store building, the upper levels being in brick. To the west of the store it continues in brick with later patching and an entrance to the yard.
STORE EXTERIOR: The store building is a two-storey brick and stone structure with a stone-slate roof, aligned north-south across the eastern side of a small yard. There is a large timber louvre above the hipped south end of the roof. The south wall is in stone rubble and has two lower windows with stone cills and lintels and a larger upper round-arched window with stone impost and keystone and brick voussoirs. The north end is in brick and has a brick pediment and a central archway with impost band and stone voussoirs, blocked with brick below and breeze blocks above. To either side is are blind square openings, one above and one below the impost band. On the northern half of the east side is a brick pent-roof outshut with a single window on its north side and a low blocked opening below a band; it has a pantile roof with a louvre, and blocked openings on its east side. The southern half of the east side is blank. The west side, facing the yard, is in brick and has an off-centre round-arched cart entrance with timber doors below and timber-framed glazing above (partly blocked). There are partly blocked square windows high on either side, and a further partly blocked window to the left (north), with further blocked openings partly obscured by a lower range extending west from the store. A row of single-storey outbuildings in a mixture of brick stone, breeze block and timber with pent pantile roofs is set against the high wall to the north, filling the north side of the yard. The ruinous remains of others are set against the brick west wall of the yard which steps down from north to south.
STORE INTERIOR: The northern end of the interior of the store building is open to the roof structure; this has been renewed though main trusses survive with hand-cut timbers. The southern end is separated from the main space by an internal wall and is also open to the roof. The louvre is adjacent to the hipped apex of the roof at this end. The central section is divided from the north end by a wall at the upper level which has a blocked round-arch opening at first-floor level, with voussoirs and keystone. There appears to be an earlier more steeply pitched roof line visible on this wall. The concrete floor has slots for the machinery used to process timber. A door accesses the lean-to extension.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
Amen House, walls, Fives Court, Store and yard are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the buildings show evidence of architectural embellishment involving classical and gothick styles, particularly on elevations facing Bedale Hall and the adjoining parkland
* Date: Amen House dates to the early-C18, contemporary with the nearby Bedale Hall, and some of the other structures in the group are of a similar date, while others are probably of later-C18 date, all within the time period when most surviving buildings are listed
* Group Value: all of the buildings are associated with the Grade I Bedale Hall, the principal building of the town, and as such are significant elements of the former manorial complex.
