Geograph - photograph every grid square

Fortified house now farmhouse. Early or mid C16 incorporating part of a C14
tower with alterations, dated and inscribed over entrance T & M D 1683 with
Denton coat-of-arms. Large blocks of mixed calciferous and pink sandstone with
graduated greenslate roof and stone chimney stacks. 2 storeys, 5 bays with
stair projection to rear making shape; originally a fortified courtyard plan.
Top-glazed panelled door in alternate-block surround under cornice and voussoir
frieze. 2-light stone-mullioned windows under cornices are of 1683. Confined
fenestration is explained by adjoining courtyard range, that to right listed
separately, but that to left now demolished, leaving blank wall. Rear 2- and
3-light stone-mullioned windows under hoodmoulds could be C16. Wall at left
rear has earlier blocked window and is said to contain the remains of a newel
staircase of the C14 tower, now demolished. Further single-storey rear
extension is probably early C18. Interior has large segmental-arched stone
fireplace in principal ground-floor room. Late C17 oak staircase with twisted
balusters and broad moulded handrail. House of Dacre family which was exchanged
with the Denton family for Denton Hall in 1507; sold by the Dentons to Sir James
Lowther in 1774 and still in the possession of that family. See W.T. McIntyre,
Warnell Hall, Cumberland News, 4 August 1934; Transactions Cumberland &
Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, new series, xx, p238.
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