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© Mr Gordon Furness

IoE Number: 73855
Location: BLENCOW HALL WITH ADJACENT FARM BUILDINGS AND REMAINS OF MOAT,
  GREYSTOKE, EDEN, CUMBRIA
Photographer: Mr Gordon Furness
Date Photographed: 04 August 2002
Date listed: 27 December 1967
Date of last amendment: 24 October 1986
Grade I

NY 43 SE & NY 43 SW GREYSTOKE LITTLE BLENCOW 12/132 & 13/132 Blencow Hall Farmhouse and 27.12.67 gatehouse wing (formerly listed as Blencow Hall with adjacent farm buildings and remains of moat) G.V. I Fortified house with gatehouse wing. Probably late C15 with 1590 alterations and additions; further C20 alterations. Thick walls of large blocks of pink sandstone rubble, the towers with battlemented parapets and stone spouts. Hall and gatehouse wing have graduated greenslate roofs with banded red sandstone chimney stacks. 2-storey, 4-bay hall with flanking rectangular 3-storey, single-bay towers, the left tower extending to rear as a 2-storey, 5-bay gatehouse wing, forming overall H-shape. The front wall of the hall has been completely rebuilt, probably in 1590, being moved back about 2 metres; part of the original front wall remains as a buttress in return angle of left tower and the original roof line can be traced on this tower wall. 2-light stone-mullioned windows under hoodmoulds, the right windows blocked on ground floor, to accommodate a C19 porch, and partly blocked above. Right tower thought to be older, perhaps confirmed by angle turret containing newel staircase, common to the tower and the hall before its rebuilding. The turret shares front wall with the tower and has a stone-surround doorway and small irregular chamfered openings on 4 levels. The front wall continues beyond the turret as a buttress, perhaps added, since it cuts light to hall windows. Between this buttress and the present hall front, an upper-floor opening from the newel stair would have led into the hall. Front wall also has a small ground-floor casement window under a 4-light stone-mullioned window with hoodmould and large relieving arch; 2nd-floor similar 3-light window. Battlements partly removed in C20. Right return wall and rear of this tower have 2- and 3-light stone-mullioned windows, some partly blocked, all under hoodmoulds, one insertion inscribed M.H. 1918 (Howard); some label stops are carved heads, others are inscribed H.B. (Henry Blencow). Left return wall, at junction with the rear of the hall, has a squint window avoiding the hall. Left tower also has a turret, with shared front wall, but without a stair. Front wall rent from ground-floor window to hattlements, but battlements otherwise complete. The turret projects on left return wall, otherwise common with gatehouse wing, which has 2-light stone-mullioned windows, one with hoodmould stops inscribed H.B. and left segmental-arched passage. Thick rear hall wall has Tudor-arched doorway with lintel inscribed in Latin and HENRY BLENCOW 1590, under an armorial panel, initialled H.B. or R.B. Various stone-mullioned windows and smaller openings, with earlier blocked windows. Rear wall of gatehouse wing has Tudor-arched doorways, one initialled H.B. External stone steps to C18 loft doorway. Interior of hall has Tudor-arched stone doorways throughout. A large C16 stone-arched fireplace in the kitchen. The present C19 staircase has earlier timber-framed partitions. Fireplaces and doorways in the towers on various levels, but both are derelict without roofs and floors. Interior of gatehouse wing has a smaller C16 stone-arched fireplace. See M.W. Taylor, Old Manorial Halls of Westmorland & Cumberland, 1892, pp.288-294.