Details
RUFFORD LIVERPOOL ROAD
SD 41 NE
7/11 Rufford Old Hall
11.10.1968
GV I
Manor house of the Hesketh family of Martholme and Rufford, now National Trust
property. Late C15 hall (restored), with wing dated 1662 at 1st floor;
addition to this dated 1821 on rainwater heads. Timber-framed hall with
external stone chimney, wing of handmade brick with stone quoins, all with
stone plinth and stone slate roofs. Probably originally H-plan but west wing
removed and east wing rebuilt 1662 and 1821. Box-framed open hall of 7 bays,
with screens passage at east end, semi-octagonal oriel at west end of north
side, the north front decorated with closely-set studs below the rail,
quatrefoil panels and windows above it, coved eaves; 4-centred arched doorway
with carved spandrels; oriel almost fully glazed with wooden mullion and
transom windows; restored lantern on roof (probably in place of former smoke
louvre); west end has 2 doorways (originally to west wing); south side of
posts and studs, has large stone chimney stack, three large 8-light wooden
mullion and transom windows. At east end between hall and wing are C19 gabled
bays in style matching the hall. East wing of 1662 extends northwards, is
single depth, 5 bays, 2½ storeys (different brickwork above 1st floor), almost
symmetrical; has a doorway offset slightly right of centre, 4 windows at
ground floor, 5 at 1st floor, and 4 large gabled dormers, all these windows
with segmental relieving arches over them, all with diamond lattice glazing,
and all crosswindows except those in the dormers, which are 2-light casements;
between the 2nd and 3rd windows at 1st floor is a plaque carved with the
Hesketh double-headed eagle, a label above it and the date 1662 below it.
Rear of this wing has inter alia a square 4-stage embattled stair tower with a
doorway at ground floor and a 3-light mullioned window with a label on each
floor above, coupled with an embattled chimney stack; 1821 addition to the
south in matching style and materials; added service wing at north end.
Interior of hall, with 5 hammerbeam roof trusses, spere truss, 5 service
doorways, and a free-standing carved oak screen, is "of an exuberance of
decoration matched nowhere else in England" (Pevsner): for details see
"References" (below). Interior of wing has a large segmental-arched stone
fireplace, stopped 1/4-round moulded beams on both floors, cross-corner
fireplace at 1st floor.
References: VCH Lancs VI pp. 123-126; Pevsner; P. Fleetwood-Hesketh
Rufford Old Hall (National Trust, reprinted 1985); and Rev. W.G. Procter "The
Manor of Rufford and the Ancient Family of the Heskeths" Hist.Soc.Lancs. and
Cheshire, 23, 1907, pp. 91-118.
Listing NGR: SD4631816004
