Details
SE 35 NW SCOTTON MAIN STREET
(west side, off)
5/54 Scotton Old Hall (formerly
listed as "Old Hall Farmhouse")
8.3.52
GV II*
House. C15, and C17 with Cl9 repair and restoration c1980. Coursed squared
gritstone to hall and west wing; limestone rubble and cobbles enclosing
timber framing to east wing ; limestone and gritstone dressings and quoins.
Graduated stone slate roof. Hall and 2 cross wings plan, of 2 storeys, with
attics to west wing. 2-bay hall, 1 x 3-bay east wing, 1 x 6-bay west wing.
Access is now on the north side, the entrance being in an enclosed porch on
the east side of the west wing, under an original outshut. A fine original
C17 board door in a moulded round arch with imposts and keystone. A
continuous hoodmould, which is carried around the hall and west wing (the
gritstone building), apart from the south gable end, steps up over this
doorway. An external stone stair leads to a wide first-floor doorway cut
through an earlier window on the west wing gable; the stair covers a ground-
floor window. All stone-dressed windows are recessed-chamfered apart from
those to north gable of the east wing. Central hall has 6-light restored
window, and 2 windows of 2 lights to first floor; 1 and 2-light windows to
west wing gable which has a first-floor continuous string and a dripmould
over the attic window. East wing, north gable: a 6-light ovolo-moulded
mullioned window of limestone with a hoodmould to ground floor; a similar 3-
light window above. The east wing roof is steeply pitched and without
kneelers; there is a corniced ridge stack forward of the junction with the
hall roof. A large square stack straddles the hall ridge, close to the
junction with the west wing which has bulbous kneelers and a corniced stack
at the apex of the gable. Rear (south) facade: a board door in chamfered
shallow-pointed arched doorway in the east wall of the west wing, with 4-
light window left and single light to right on both floors. Hall windows:
two of 2 lights to each floor, to left of a quoined straight join at the
change in building material, probably at the position of the original south
entrance into a cross passage of the timber-framed house. West wing, south
gable: ground-floor windows inserted c1980; single-light windows with
dripmoulds close to the corners at first and attic floors leave a central
space for chimney flues. East wing: mullioned windows restored. Left
return (east wing): wooden-framed windows throughout, c1980 restoration of
C19 originals. 2 blocked windows far right, of 2 lights to ground floor and
one light above; possibly blocked doorway centre; staight join in stonework
far left; the top of a timber post and a wallplate to left and centre.
Right return (west wing): C2O porch bay 5; the inner board door with
chamfered surround is flanked by single-light windows. Blocked doorway, now
2-light window far left; three 2-light windows to bays 2, 3 and 4. Three 2-
light and an inserted 3-light window to first floor. The dripmould on this
wall stops short of the right corner. Interior. The building contains
several features of considerable historical and architectural importance.
The north doorway opens into a porch on the side of a large back-to-back
fireplace, serving hall and west wing. The doorways into west wing and hall
have wavy wooden lintels, one partly defaced. The hall fireplace has
original chamfered wooden jambs with pyramid stops and with plank panelling
each side; the ceiling cross beam rests on a beam which is parallel to but
within the line of the north hall wall - possibly the limit of the original
timber-framed house. C20 staircase. The timber-framed partition wall
between hall and east wing is of particular interest: it contains 3
doorways, 2 now blocked, which were probably service doors to pantry,
buttery and stairs or kitchen passage. The doorheads are of 2 phases: 2
curved braces formed Gothic arches originally; wavy lintels were inserted in
the C17 - one remains in the open doorway, the other 2 were repositioned at
the entrance, probably during a C17 remodelling of the houseplan. During
the c1980 restoration the exposed plaster on the hall side of the partition
wall, to left of the service doors, was found to be covered by early
graffiti - written lines, a shield and compass-drawn circles, dating from
the C16. East wing, ground floor: north room fireplace with external
stack, blocked probably in the C19, has massive stone lintel with
shallow pointed arch in a square chamfered surround and single-block jambs.
Sockets for shelves and pot holders are visible. The south room has a
corner fireplace, built in the C18-C19. The east wing roof construction is
of particular importance: the centre and south end are carried on 3 cross-
braced crown-post trusses; the upright is thickened at the top to receive
the brace from the tie beam. These braces are crossed by a second pair
outwards from tie beam to side purlins and rafters. Curved braces also link
the crown post to the collar purlin. Roofs of this type, (originally
exposed on the gable ends and visible from the first floor) were common in
York in the C15 and examples survive in Knaresborough and Ripon, but this
occurence in a rural building is exceptional and suggests a builder of some
prestige. West wing: the fireplace backing onto the hall has chamfered
bressumer and jambs and plank and muntin side panelling, the timber-framed
partitions are of C17 and C18 date. The south room has stone pillar which
probably formed part of the structure of a large fireplace and oven, the
flue of which survives. The west wing first floor was not partitioned until
c1980 and there was no access to the rest of the building. History and
interpretation. The Manor of Scotton was owned by William de Nessfield in
1348 and in 1387 it became part of the massive estates of John of Gaunt,
Duke of Lancaster. The manor house appears to have been rented out from
then, until 1653 when Sir Christopher Martyn sold Scotton Manor to George
Watkinson. This period covers the major building phases of the house, and
the sequence of occupation is not certain. The major family is the
Pulleyns. In 1544 Walter Pulleyn, Steward of Fountains Abbey, lived at
Scotton Hall. In 1551 he was charged with removing tiles and stone from the
old chapel to repair his mansion house. He married Frances Vavasour whose
son by a previous marriage married Edith Fawkes, Guy Fawkes mother, shortly
after 1587. Guy Fawkes probably spent his youth at Scotton, providing a
strong local link with the events of the gunpowder plot. It is significant
that in 1653 George Watkinson, a Quaker, took over Scotton Hall. His grave
(qv) is in the nearby burial ground (qv). In 1658 George Watkinson bought
the chantry house and lands and in 1666 George Fox, the founder of the
Quaker movement came to Scotton to what he recorded in his journal as
"a great and glorious meeting". The upper floor of the west wing may have
been converted to agricultural use, but outside stairs were also used for
religious meeting rooms in private houses - this may have been a Quaker
meeting house. During the C18 the house was again tenanted, belonging then
to the Slingsbys of Scriven, and by the C19 and into the C20 it had
deteriorated into a poor tenant farm. A pair of thumbscrews was found in
the wattle and daub of the wall above the service doors during the c1980
restoration; they are a type used during the C17. North Yorkshire and
Cleveland Vernacular Buildings Study Group Report No 60, (1974). Mrs Scott,
personal communication. A T Waterer, 'Records of the Parish of Farnham
etc', Typescript, c1928, in Harrogate Public Library.
Listing NGR: SE3253059558
