Bolton Old Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Bolton on Swale Hall

In the civil parish of Bolton on Swale.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of North Yorkshire.
1974 county of North Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire North Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: SE25319914
Latitude 54.38713° Longitude -1.61176°

Bolton Old Hall has been described as a certain Pele Tower.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Tower house. C15, C16 and C17. For the Scrope family, with extensions and alterations by the Tancred and Wastell families. Roughcast rubble with ashlar dressings, pantile roof. C15 tower of 3 storeys, now reduced to 2, with south wing, perhaps of C16, of 2 storeys, both sections refenestrated and altered c1680. Quoins. Tower, west elevation: on ground and first floors, 1 bay of sash windows with glazing bars; on second floor, blocked 2-light mullion window, and 2 loopholes in battlements. South elevation of tower: on ground floor, sash window with glazing bars below stone lintel from mullion window; on first floor, casement in surround of 4-light double-chamfered mullion window: on second floor, blocked 2-light mullion window and 2 loopholes in battlements. North elevation of tower: external stepped stack with strapwork carving near top, and ashlar superstructure. West elevation of wing: 4 bays. In second bay, ashlar porch with panelled Tuscan pilasters, frieze and swan-neck pediment containing chamfered panel carved with fist holding a laurel wreath. Sash windows with glazing bars, those to first and third bays of ground floor in chamfered surrounds; those on first floor in architraves with keystones. Ashlar copings with Jacobean finials. South elevation of wing: on ground floor to right, sash window with glazing bars. On first floor, 2 tall window openings with double-chamfered surrounds, that to the left with a casement, that to the right an 18-pane sash window. Interior: in ground floor of tower, good bolection panelling of c1680, with imported matching fireplace. In ground floor of south wing, fireplace with moulded triangular soffit to lintel, flanked by round-arched niches. First-floor room in south end of wing: C17 plaster ceiling with central circular motif, Tudor roses in corners and part of cornice. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1131520
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 52306.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 24
  Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p. 24
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 312-
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 301 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 514
  Ryder, P.F., 1982 (paperback edn 1992), The Medieval Buildings of Yorkshire (Ash Grove Book) p. 108-22
  Pevsner, N., 1966, Buildings of England: Yorkshire: North Riding (London) p. 82 (slight)
  Page, Wm (ed), 1914, VCH Yorkshire: North Riding Vol. 1 p. 155 (tenurial history) online transcription
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 210 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Clark, Ross, 2001 Oct 10, 'Age-old story of a medieval fortress' The Telegraph online transcription
  Bernard Wood, G., 1960 Dec., 'Tower Houses of Yorkshire' Country Life p. 1481
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 581 online copy
  Degnan, S., 1993, Yorkshire Pele Towers (University of York: MA Thesis) p. 35
  1985, Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Study Group Report No 1090

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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