Calverley Old Hall

Calverley Old Hall is a medieval manor house with Grade I listed building status situated at Calverley, West Yorkshire, England.[1]

Not to be confused with Calveley Hall in Cheshire.

Calverley Old Hall

Architectural features

Significant portions of the house have unusually escaped alteration and modernisation in later centuries. The oldest section of the property is the solar, believed to be of 14th-century origin. The great hall, which has an interesting six-bay hammerbeam roof, and the chapel have been dated to 1485–1495. Later additions include an accommodation wing added in the early 16th century by Sir William Calverley to house his very large family.

During routine work on the Hall in 2021, color was seen beneath a small piece of plaster removed from "an undistinguished little bedroom". Further work revealed three walls covered with paintings of a very high standard in the Tudor equivalent of wallpaper, "grotesque work" based on Roman emperor Nero's Golden villa. Such painting was often painted over and destroyed, but these were preserved by being covered in plaster.[2][3]

Calverley family

The Calverley family settled in Calverley in ancient times and remained for several hundred years. As landowners, the Calverleys were frequently called to military service. Sir William Calverley (died 1506) was summononed to fight Perkin Warbeck's army in Cornwall in September 1497.[4] Walter Calverley (1483-1536), was knighted at Lille in October 1513 following the battle of the Spurs.[5] His son, William Calverley, captured the Scottish laird of Orchardton at the battle of Solway Moss in 1542,[6] provided 20 soldiers and served as a captain in the campaign in Scotland in 1544.[7] and was knighted at Ladykirk, Scottish Borders, across the Tweed from Norham Castle on 23 September 1545.[8]

The hall was witness to dreadful violence in April 1605, when Walter Calverley murdered two of his sons, William and Walter, after drinking heavily.[9] He was tried in York for murder but refused to plead and was therefore pressed to death. Because of his refusal his property could not be seized by the state and passed to his surviving baby son, Henry.[10] The case inspired two Jacobean plays:

In the mid-17th century, Walter Calverley (b. 1629) married Francis Thompson, heiress of the Thompson estate at Esholt. In 1709 their son, Walter, built a new mansion house on the site of Esholt Priory and the family left Calverley. After he died in 1749 the family sold the Esholt estate and in 1754 sold the Calverley properties to the Thornhills. Thereafter the hall remained under a single landlord but was subdivided into cottages. The chapel was let out as a wheelwright's shop.

Conservation

In 1981 the Landmark Trust bought the property and converted a 17th-century block for use as holiday accommodation. Full restoration of the site, including the great hall and solar wing, has been a long-term project because of life tenancies. Meanwhile, part of the site is deemed to be heritage at risk, subject to gradual decay pending completion of the restoration. The Trust aims to provide space for community use as well as holiday accommodation.[12][2]

See also

References
  1. Historic England. "Calverley Old Hall (1265966)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. "The Renaissance comes to Calverley Old Hall". The Landmark Trust. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  3. Brown, Mark (9 November 2021). "Tudor wall paintings uncovered in Yorkshire 'discovery of a lifetime". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  4. James Gairdner, Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III and Henry VII, vol. 1 (London, 1861), p. 112.
  5. William Arthur Shaw, The Knights of England: A complete record from the earliest time to the present day, vol. 2 (London, 1906), p. 42.
  6. Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, 1 (London, 1838), p. 47.
  7. HMC Longleat: Seymour Papers, IV (London, 1968), pp. 59, 67.
  8. W. A. Shaw, The Knights of England, 2 (London, 1906), p. 57
  9. Levin, Carole (2016). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen (1st ed.). London: Routledge. p. 137. ISBN 9781315440729.
  10. "The History of Calverley". Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  11. Nicholl, Charles (November 2021). "Fetch the Chopping Knife". London Review of Books. 43.
  12. "Calverley Old Hall, 14-24, Woodhall Road - Leeds". Heritage at Risk. Historic England. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
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