The old church at Heptonstall was dedicated to God and St Thomas a Becket – Thomas a Becket being in great popularity after his murder in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 and his canonisation three years later. There may have been a structure in the…
Slide 2 - A date and arms over the porch on the South Front fix the date of the erection of the central portion of the house at 1640. Another portion of the East End bears the date 1651 and the West Wing that of 1656. The extreme eastern end was…
Slide 1 - Royds Hall is very fine specimen of a Yorkshire Manor house of the Seventeenth Century. It is situated in the Parish of Bradford and is picturesqely seated upon high table - land looking south, affording an extensive and charming prospect.…
Slide 16 - Emerging from the courtyard, we view the mansion from the back, noticing the buttressed chimney-stacks and diagonally formed summits, peculiar to the period.
In taking our leave of Woodsome, the lines from Tennyson can truly be applied…
Slide 15 - A long, low roofed building with projecting windows, and supported on stone pillars, stands at the west side of the courtyard. This is probably the most ancient part of the building, of the Tudor or Plantagenet era.
Slide 14 - There is a fine courtyard at the rear, paved with flags and in the centre is a stone fountain and basin, erected in 1857 to commemorate the visit of Lord Lewisham.
Slide 13 - On the west side is the Minstrels gallery where in olden times the musicians discoursed music and song, to the assembled guests below, and on the north side are two internal and ancient looking windows, from which it is said, the fair…
Slide 12 - We now ascend an oak staircase and enter the principal bedrooms, likewise wainscoted in oak. One of these rooms contains a fine old oak four posted bedstead elaborately carved, purchased by Lord Dartmouth at accost of £250.
Slide 11 - Through an open door on the north side of the Great Hall we obtain a peep into the Drawing room, wainscoted throughout in oak and filled with antique furniture.
Slide 8 - To the right of the fireplace is a fine old clock in oak case, bearing the date1652, and surrounded with the plume and coronet forming the crest of the Legge family.
But the greatest curiosities are the ancient picture boards hung on…
Slide 5 - Entering through the porch, we are ushered into the Great Hall, the most interesting room in the mansion, not only on account of the many relics of antiquity which it contains, but because it gives us a vivid picture of the baronial life of…
Slide 4 - On the south side facing the orchard are the kitchens and other offices. This is probably the oldest portion and dates from the Tudor period.
Slide 2 - A flight of steps of ample width leads to a flagged terrace, flanked with an ornamental balustrade of rare beauty, black with age, and covered with pretty creeping plants.
As Canon Hulbert says in his 'Annals of the Church in…