Pickhill Hall

Cadw's description

Location

Situated at the end of a private drive entered from the east side of a road runing south from the B5130. This new drive approaches the house from the rear passing close to it's farm buildings to the south.

History

Little is known about the Pickhill estate until the earliest deeds of 1724 suggesting the "provincial Baroque" (Hubbard) remodelling of the earlier building (Date stone of 1681) around this time. This remodelling has been tentatively attributed to the architect Richard Trubshaw who was certainly working in the area at this time for Sir Richard Puleston at nearby Emral Hall between 1724 and 1726, and on Bangor-is-y-Coed church in 1726. For much of the C19 and C20 the house was in the hands of the Ormrod family. The house was left to decay in 1968 following almost half a century of poor maintainance and following a disastrous fire in 1985. It was subsequently sold and converted into flats in 1990.

Exterior

The current exterior is of four different phases, the earliest of 1681, the principal elevations of the early C18, a sizeable mid-Victorian addition of 1866, and further additions and alterations of 1990. The principal elevation, to the south, is three storeys of red brick with stone dressings including a low rusticated base and quoins. In the Baroque style with seven bays the central three of which project slightly being articulated by full height Corinthian pilasters. This central section is differentiated by segmentally arched heads to the sash windows. The central bay is further differentiated to denote the entrance by moulded window surrounds with side consoles to the first floor and a Corinthian porch to the ground floor. The parapet is balustraded, surmounted with urns, and a small triangular pediment to the central section containing a festooned coat-of-arms and with a domed cupola set back on the same axis. To the east is a two-storey extension with a date-stone of 1866 set into the chimney breast and service wing to the rear. To the west a further Victorian service wing of two storeys received a large conservatory to the southern elevation at the time of its conversion to residential use in 1990 as indicated by a date-stone bearing the initials "LSE".

Interior

Internal alteration and re-organisation following dereliction has left no original fabric inside.

Reason for designation

Listed for the surviving early 18th century facade.