Rockley Old Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Falthwaite

In the civil parish of Barnsley.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of Barnsley.
1974 county of South Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire West Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: SE34170277
Latitude 53.52054° Longitude -1.48610°

Rockley Old Hall has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

Manor house now 3 dwellings and attached garden wall. Of several C17 builds. Ashlar sandstone, stone slate roof. Wall of dry-walled sandstone and mortared rubble. House: 2 storeys with attics; 5 gabled bays, bays 2 and 3 narrower, entrance to rear; attached rectangular wall encloses front garden. Bay 4 appears earliest and has chamfered plinth and 4-light double-chamfered mullioned window with similar 2-light window on right, continuous dripmould; 3-light lst-floor window with dripstone; 2-light attic window. Bays 2 and 3 similar with C20 gabled porch (not of special interest) flanked on left by 5-light window and on right by 3-light window; continuous lst-floor dripmould. Bay 1, probably late C17, has French window on ground-floor right, otherwise 2-light square-faced mullioned windows and plain dripmoulds. Bay5 has door to left of C20 4-light window; single-light and 3-light windows to lst-floor, 2-light window to attic. Kneelers at each end of range, gable copings, finials to bay 2 and 3, finial bases to bays 4 and 5. Ashlar stack to ridge of bay 4 has plinth and cornice. Attached garden wall: gap in left return near house. 2 front door openings with chamfered quoins and lintels set on flagstone copings; quoined, arched doorway in right return. Rear of house: bays 1, 2 and 5 gabled. Bays 3 and 4, set back, have chamfered, bonded surround to boarded door on left, 8-light window on its right with king-mullion and transom, dripmould; 1st floor: two 3-light mullioned windows on right of former 2-light window. Bays 1 and 2 have external stone steps to central lst-floor doorway; large ground-floor opening on left with concrete lintel, 4-light window above, with dripstone, 2-light gable window. On right of steps are paired casements in square-faced surrounds. Bay 5, late C17, has square-faced 2-light mullioned windows with plain dripstones. Left return: detailed as outer gables. Right return: double-chamfered mullioned windows: two 4-light windows beneath lst-floor windows of 2, 4 and 2 lights, central window with king mullion.
Interior: No 6 on right has ashlar fireplaces, that to rear of ground floor having large basket arch with brick oven in corner, lst-floor fireplace with roll-mould. Kitchen has corniced fireplace within C18 panelling. No 7 in centre of range has large ashlar fireplace with square soffit to triangular-headed lintel. No 8 has splat-balustered staircase and panelled plaster ceilings. (Listed Building Report)

RCOKLEY OLD HALL. Wilkinson, in his 'Hisotry of Worsbrough', says to Rockleys until 1280, the De Everingham to 1573. House Elizabethan, but Wilkinson notes suggested remains of moat in garden. (Sneyd 1995)

Comments

No mention of moat in archaeological databases or suggested on maps, but not impossible. Entirely possibly the pre-Elizabethan house was moated and decorated with some martial symbols like battlements but unlikely to be seriously fortified.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1192304
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 52475.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00349/01.

Books
- Hey, David, 2015, A History of the South Yorkshire Countryside (Pen and Sword Books) p. 92-4
  Sneyd, Steve, 1995, The Devil's Logbook Castles and Fortified Sites around South Yorkshire (Hilltop Press) p. 15
  Pevsner, N., 1959, Buildings of England: Yorkshire: West Riding (London, Penguin) p. 417
  Wilkinson, J., 1872, Worsbrough: Its Historical Associations and Rural Attractions (Barnsley) p. 59, 61, 76-77
  Anon, 1853, Stainborough and Rockley: their Historical Associations and Rural Attractions p. 66- online copy

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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.

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*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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