Leighton Hall

Description

Country house, built in 1765 incorporating some earlier remains. The central block is two storeyed with octagonal corner turrets and a single storey battlemented porch to the centre. The pavilion to the right appears to be a chapel but is in fact the stable. The Gothic south east facade dates from the early 19th century and the three storey battlemented tower to the left of the main front was added in 1870. The house stands on the site of a fortified manor house recorded in 1246. (PastScape)

Country House, 1765, probably by J. Hird, with earlier remains. Gothic south-east front early C19th, possibly by Thomas Harrison. Tower at west end of the facade 1870 by Paley and Austin. Facade of limestone ashlar. Rear roughcast rubble with sandstone dressings. Slate roof. Central block of 2 storeys and 3 bays, battlemented with octagonal corner turrets. The central bay projects with a one-storey battlemented porch having clasping buttresses with ogee caps. The moulded doorway with 4 centred head is set within a wider chamfered 4-centred opening with tracery. Windows are chamfered with mullions and hood moulds, of 3 lights on the ground floor and 2 on the 1 st. The lights have 4-centred heads, except for the outer ones on the 1 st floor, and have sashes with glazing bars. Those to the porch have elaborate tracery in their heads. To the right is a single-storey 2-bay link with battlements and pinnacles. The 1 st bay has a window with tracery, the 2nd window being blank with painted tracery. The right-hand pavilion appears to be a chapel, with pinnacled buttresses, a window with panelled tracery, and a cross on the gable apex, but is in fact the stable. At the far right is a glass conservatory. At the left is a 2-storey link to the 3-storey battlemented tower by Paley and Austin, with a 4-storey turret in the angle. The tower has mullioned windows of various descriptions and a canted bay window to the south-east wall. To the rear of the tower is a 3-storey wing with added buttresses having sash windows with glazing bars in plain stone surrounds, except for one window in the west wall which has a rebated and chamfered surround. The east wall of this wing has some C17th dressings on the ground floor. 2 chamfered door surrounds with triangular heads under a drip mould and a chamfered window surround with drip mould. The rear wall of the main block has sash windows with glazing bars in plain stone surrounds, the stair window having a pointed head and traceried glazing bars. The east wall of the stable block has a central pedimented bay and stable doorways with semi-circular heads. INTERIOR: has an entrance hall with a screen of clustered columns with moulded 4-centred arches, and a cantilevered stone stair with swept handrail and stick balusters. (Listed Building Report)

The earliest records of Leighton Hall go back 750 years to 1246, when it is known that Adam D'Avranches had a fortified manor here. (Leighton Hall website)

Comments

The Leighton House website history appears a bit confused. According to the VCH (early but of excellent quality) Adam de Avranches held the manor from 1176. In 1246 the manor was held by Robert de Conyers and his wife Alice (great granddaughter of Adam) but the primary source of that date, a dispute over common land, does not mention the manor house. The manor was small, held for a fraction (one eighth) of a knights fee (Liber Feodorum p. 1109). The evidence this was a 'fortified' manor is unclear and while it is not impossible there was a house with some fortifications here (? moat ? Pele Tower) the actual evidence for this is absent.