Moulton Hall

Details

MOULTON MOULTON NZ 2203-2303

10/101 Moulton Hall 19.12.51

GV I

Country house. Early-mid C17. For the Smithson family. Ashlar and rubble, pantile and Westmorland slate roofs. 3 storeys plus cellar and attics, 5 x 2 bays, rectangular plan with central spine wall containing fireplaces, garderobes etc, and with 2-storey service wing projecting from rear right. East elevation: ashlar, banded rustication with hammered finish on bands. Moulded plinth, stepped down below windows. Chamfered rusticated quoins. Central single-storey flat-roofed porch in chamfered rusticated ashlar with corner Tuscan pilasters supporting pulvinated frieze and dentil cornice, and above, balustrade, pierced with quatrefoils and lozenges, and corner pedestals. Round-arched opening. Inner doorway with keyed architrave interrupted at bases, mid-jambs and corners with jewelled blocks. Above porch, doorway matching inner doorway below, has frieze with central raised block, and cornice. On ground and first floors in first, second, fourth and fifth bays: 3-light double-chamfered mullion-and-transom windows, deeper on ground floor, with triangular pediments in first and fifth bays, segmental pediments in second and fourth bays. On second floor, windows with eared and shouldered architraves, 2-light mullion windows in first and fifth bays, cross window in third bay. Across the elevation, 3 Flemish gables with keyed oculi, copings rising from volutes and flanking ball finials. Behind each gable, a pitched pantile roof. Small single-storey C19 extension set back to right, of rubble with plinth, quoins to right, small oculus, plain eaves band, large chimney at right end and pantile roof. Rear: rubble. To left and right, C20 2-storey flat-roofed extensions flanking, on ground floor, central 5-light mullion-and-transom window with drip-mould, and on first floor, 2 cross windows with continuous drip-mould. On second floor, 2-light double-chamfered mullion windows at alternating levels. Westmorland slate roof with ridge parallel to rear wall. Right (inner) return of rear wing has blocked central chamfered triangular-headed doorway with hood- mould, renewed mullion windows with hood-moulds on ground floor, some original 2-light chamfered mullion windows on first floor, also C19 openings, and pantile roof with stone slates at eaves. Left return: ashlar with banded rustication. Moulded plinth, stepped down below window to right, with 2-light basement window, chamfered rusticated quoins. Central 4-panel door in architrave with pulvinated frieze and cornice. Above it, keyed oculus, and above that a sundial on a raised panel. Flanking, on ground and first floor, 3-light mullion-and-transom windows with segmental pediments. On second floor, two 2-light mullion windows in eared and shouldered architraves. 2 Flemish gables as before. Central ashlar stack, set back along ridge, between gables. Right return: rubble, with ashlar plinth and chamfered rusticated quoins. On ground and first floors, 3-light double-chamfered mullion-and-transom windows with pulvinated friezes and cornices. On second floor 2 larger keyed oculi, and Flemish gables as before. Central stack, set back along ridge, between gables. Interior: entrance hall has large fireplace with elaborately moulded ashlar architrave. Foliage strip around edge of ceiling. Ground-floor room to front left: moulded ceiling cornice. Ground-floor room to front right: ashlar fireplace with classical motifs and Carron cast-iron grate; moulded ceiling cornice with Greek key motif on frieze. Main open-well staircase (towards rear on left), rising to second floor, is of richly-carved oak and has newel posts with panels with foliage drops, pierced pendants and urn finials and instead of balusters, panels carved with roses, pomegranites, acanthus-leaf scrolls, and with coat of arms on first landing. Secondary staircase (towards rear of right) has square newels with ball finials, and stick balusters. First floor: sitting room in centre front has ashlar fireplace with deep bolection moulding; good ceiling cornice with foliage perimeter strip and circular central motif with large acanthus leaves. The house was built for the Smithsons of Moulton Manor (qv) and the coat of arms on the staircase commemorates George Smithson's marriage in 1653. On his death in 1692 the estate was sold by his widow to Sir Mark Milbank of Halnaby. The Milbank family sold it to pay the dowry when Miss Milbank married Lord Byron in 1815. The house is shown, with a range of stables and coach-houses to the north, in an early C18 drawing in Samuel Buck's Yorkshire Sketchbook (1979) p353. A copy of Edmund Bogg, Richmondshire (1908), annotated by Mr M Middleton Sanderson of Grange-over-Sands, whose family owned Moulton Hall, states that it was built c1570, supposedly by Leonard Smithson, and that according to tradition, James I spent a night here on his way from Scotland to assume the English throne. However, these stories may perhaps better be associated with Moulton Manor (qv). VCH i, pp 191-192.

Listing NGR: NZ2345903476

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

322167

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Bogg, E, Richmondshire and the Vale of Mowbray, (1906)
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of York: North Riding, (1914), 191-192
Hall, I, Samuel Bucks Yorkshire Sketch Book, (1979), 353

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.