Burneside Hall, Strickland Roger

Description

Burnside Hall is a small C14 fortified dwelling with a pele tower, gatehouse, part of the original curtain wall and traces of ancient cattle enclosure north of the house. The 3 storey pele tower, now ruined, forms the north wing; the south wing, originally 3 storey and battlemented, was lowered and reroofed in C18. Attached to the gatehouse on the north side is a small part of the original curtain wall with steps to the parapet walk. (listed building report, 1951). Originally a hall with cross-wings; solar block to north (now ruined) is in a form of a tower (listed building report, 1984). (PastScape)

Burneside Hall (Plates 154, 155), house and gatehouse at the S. end of the parish. The House is partly of two and partly of three storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are slate-covered. The manor belonged to the Burneshead and Bellingham families till the 16th century. The house was built in the 14th century with a central hall and cross-wings at the N. and S. ends; the N. cross-wing formed a tower. Machell's drawing of c. 1692 shows both cross wings of three storeys and embattled and the main block with a doorway at the first floor level. In the 18th century the S. cross-wing was reduced in height and re-roofed and the tower-wing fell into ruin.
The house is an interesting example of a defensive dwelling of the 14th century with a gatehouse and walled enclosure for cattle.
The W. front of the hall-block has on the ground-floor an early 17th-century window of three transomed lights with a moulded label; the other openings are later. On the first floor are two original windows of three trefoiled and transomed lights; farther S. is a third window of the same date, of two trefoiled lights. The E. side of the hall-block has a large projecting chimney-stack with offsets. The tower or N. wing is of three storeys and retains a number of original looplights; other openings have either been enlarged or are mere gaps in the wall. In the N. wall is a doorway with a rough two-centred head and on this side is a low offset perhaps to take the springing of the barrel-vault of an adjoining structure, now demolished. The upper part of the tower is ruined but there are remains of the parapet at the E. end. The S. cross-wing retains an original window, in the E. end, of two trefoiled lights; at the back of the W. block of this wing is a chimney-stack with four 17th-century diagonal shafts. Inside the building are some exposed ceiling-beams. The hall-block has, in the N. wall, two original doorways with chamfered jambs and two-centred heads; the adjoining 17th-century fireplace probably replaces two further original doorways. In the E. wall is another original doorway of the same character; the large fireplace in the same wall has a small cupboard with a panelled door and a seat with a panelled back, both of the 17th century. On the first floor is the screen (Plate 59) of c. 1600 of the old hall; it is three panels high with a range of frieze-panels; two bays formed doorways and one of these has a panelled 17th-century door. The tower has two chambers and a passage on the ground floor, all with rubble barrel-vaults. At the E. end are a garde-robe projection and a circular staircase. In the upper floors are remains of large fireplaces, with segmental heads. The middle room on the first floor of the S. wing has remains of a plaster ceiling (Plate 49) of c. 1600; it has a series of quatre-foiled panels with moulded ribs and filled with vine-sprays. The early 18th-century staircase has turned balusters and square newels.
The Gatehouse, 25 yards W. of the house, is a rubble building of two storeys. It was built probably late in the 16th or early in the 17th century and has on either front a round-headed archway; between the arches is hung a door of two leaves with a wicket and strap-hinges. Some original windows remain in the upper storey. Adjoining the N. wall of the gatehouse is a short length of the curtain-wall, formerly enclosing a courtyard; the curtain had a parapet-walk approached by the external staircase N. of the gatehouse. There are traces of a former enclosure on the N. side of the house.
Condition—Good, except tower which is ruined and ivy-grown. (RCHME 1936)

Comments

Massive two-leaved oak studded door with dog gate and strap-hinges possibly original.