Dromonby Hall and Dromonby Hall Cottage with Attached Outbuilding Kirkby, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

KIRKBY BUSBY LANE NZ 50 NW North side 4/146 Dromonby Hall and 27/2/75 Dromonby Hall Cottage with attached outbuilding I

Upper end of substantial C16 house extended eastwards in C18, now two dwellings, the major (western) part being the early building and part of the C18 extension. Roughly-coursed pecked stone, the cottage pebbledashed. Lakeland slate roofs. ashlar stacks. Outbuilding herringbone-tooled sandstone with Welsh slate roof. Dromonby Hall T-plan, i.e. left cross wing and hall extension; Dromonby Cottage the right part of the extension. 2 storeys, the hall 1 and 2 bays, the cottage 2 bays, blank on front.

Early C18 door and stone surround relocated in second bay. Round- arched stair window with radial head and glazing bars above. In right bay of Hall a 16-pane sash under keyed lintel on each floor. In inner return of left bay a blocked chamfered doorway under flattened Tudor arch. Front has a 16-pane sash on each floor, the lower under a keyed lintel, the upper under concrete lintel. 3-bay left return has gabled projecting centre. Central chamfered slit window flanked by inserted long casements with glazing bars. On first floor two 16-pane sashes flank a 12-pane sash (only the right window is early C19, the others are replaced). Rear elevation shows a 2-light chamfered mullioned window at first floor right, a blocked opening at first floor left and a replaced 16-pane sash; a 12-pane inserted sash on ground floor. The cottage has a central boarded door and flanking 16-pane sashes on both floors, 2 replaced. Small outbuilding with boarded doors projects.

Interior: Small sitting-room has moulded ceiling beam, segmental- arched fireplace with rough voussoirs and a timber-framed partition to the large sitting-room. The ceiling is here divided into two by a beam with ornamental plaster-work: lions and unicorns, acorns, fleurs-de-lys and fruit motifs. At either side moulded raised borders frame central quatrefoils and curved geometrical surrounding shapes with applied motifs of Tudor roses, sunflowers, strapwork, grapes and oak leaves. Stone fireplace with flattened Tudor arch. Door to hall also Tudor-arched, with a roll moulding between hollow chamfers, and ballflower spandrels. Some mason's marks on the stonework.

Late C18 stair case with stick balusters, ramped and wreathed handrail, curtail step, reeded newel and shaped tread ends. Good Victorian hall floor tiles.

Dining-room of early C18 appearance, with plastered central beam and 2 old salt and spice cupboards flanking a fireplace of circa 1810, brought from another room.

Segmental-apsidal landing with C18 plaster ceiling rose. Elliptical arch at stairhead landing. Similar Tudor doorway to upstairs room above large sitting-room. Mason's marks on the mullioned window and holes for shutter pintles. Another 1810-type fireplace upstairs, flanked by C18 panelled cupboards, in the extension part, and a contemporary moulded cornice.

C18 strutted kingpost roof, re-using late medieval timbers as purlins, much restored in 1980s.

C20 1-storey brick rear wing to Dromonby Hall is not of special interest.

Listing NGR: NZ5316505827