Details
SD 64 NE BOWLAND FOREST LOW BROWSHOLME
14/7 Browsholme Hall
16.11.1954
GV I
House, early C17th, with early C18th east wing, west cross-wing rebuilt 1805 to
designs by Jeffry Wyatt and dining room added in 1807. Sandstone ashlar, the
cross-wings rusticated, with slate roof. H-plan. 3 storeys. The central
recessed part of the facade of 6 bays. The ground-floor windows have
reconstructed architraves, a continuous drip course now partly missing, and
mullions and transoms reinstated in the C19th. The 1st floor windows are
sashed with glazing bars, those to bays 1, 2 and 6 being tripartite, and have
a continuous drip course. The 2nd floor windows have individual hoods and
original square mullions with grooved faces. The 4th bay, between the columns
of the portico, has a cross window. The portico is of 3 storeys, its 2 sets
of paired columns being inaccurate versions of the classical orders. The
doorway has a moulded surround with semi-circular head. A plain parapet of
mid C18th date replaces gabled attic dormers shown on Buck's drawing of
c.1720. The east cross-wing has a drip course over the ground and 1st floor
windows, which are tripartite with central sashes with glazing bars. On the
2nd floor s a 5-light mullioned window with hood. The attic window is now
blocked and contains a clock. The gable has a coping with bellcote. The
rebuilt west wing is of 2 storeys having a large tripartite sashed window
on each floor, with glazing bars, plain stone surround, square mullions, and
hood. Set back to the west is a single-storey dining room, with a similar
window, and a shaped gable with coat of arms and date '1807'. Adjoining
towards the rear of the east cross-wing is a wing containing the kitchen shown
incomplete in Buck's drawing of c.1720 and having sashed windows with glazing
bars and architraves, some with false keystones. It has projecting quoins
and a stone gutter cornice. 2 adjoining bars of the main house are treated
in a similar way, one having a door with 'EPI 1711' set over it. At the rear
several minor wings project, including one from the C17th partly converted
into a chapel in the late C19th by the addition of some gothic windows and
a porch turret with plaque 'IPB 1897', but never completed. Interior: The
dining room, in the western part of the main block, has diagonal panelling of
c.1620 taken from Park Head near Whalley. The overmantel of 1584 once
belonged to the Towneleys of Hapton Tower. The drawing room of 1805 by Wyatt
has Elizabethan detailing, an early date for its revival. The dining room
ceiling of 1807 is also by Wyatt. The ante room at the rear of the west wing
has an overmantel said to have come from the old library. The early C18th
east wing has a kitchen fireplace with 3 segmental arches, the right-hand one
narrower, with fluted keystones. The stair to this wing is of 4 flights, with
open string, turned newels and balusters, the latter alternately fluted, and
ramped handrail. The main stair has an open well, square newels, open string
and one turned baluster to each tread. It is lit by a window containing
stained glass of various dates from before 1500 to the C19th, some said to
have come from Whalley Abbey. On the 1st floor is the Oak Drawing Room with
elaborately carved panelling of c.1700. The Yellow Room, Velvet Room and
Oak Bedroom have panelling either made or-embellished by Richard Alston,
estate carpenter, at the end of the C19th. (Jervis, Simon, Browsholme Hall.
English Life Publications, 1980. Description of Browsholme Hall, London, 1815.
Buck, Samuel, Yorkshire Sketchbooks. Reproduced in facsimile, Wakefield, 1979.
Listing NGR: SD6842445248
