Barlow Woodseats Hall
Encyclopedia
Barlow Woodseats Hall is a Grade II* listed manor house
situated at Barlow Woodseats, on the edge of the village of Barlow
, in Derbyshire
. It remains the only manor house in the Parish of Barlow, and the current house dates from the early 17th century, although there are much earlier origins.
from 1593. The present hall dates from the 17th century but there has been a house here from at least 1269 when it was called Barlew Woodsets meaning ‘a house in the wood belonging to Barley’. The deeds dated June 1368 and later dates refer to Barley Wodesetes.
It is also believed to be once occupied by one of Derbyshire’s best known daughters Bess of Hardwick
who married the owner of the Hall; he subsequently died in 1544. This was the first of her four husbands even though she was only 14.
The main house was built by local yeoman
Arthur Mower, and it is believed this was around the time he married in 1620. Arthur Mower was appointed Agent to George Barley, Lord of the Manor
in Barlow in 1563, then on George's death in 1568 to his son Peter Barley. Mower died in 1652 but several generations of his family occupied the house in subsequent years.
The manor of Barlow was held, with Staveley, by the Musards; it was afterwards in the ancient family of Abitot, a branch of which, on settling here, is supposed to have taken their name from the place. The family of Barlow, or Barley, possessed it for several generations.
James Barley, Esq., sold it in 1593, to George Earl of Shrewsbury
; the Earl of Newcastle
purchased it of the Shrewsbury family in the reign of James I
or Charles I
. Having passed by descent to his Grace the Duke of Portland, it was in 1813, exchanged with the Duke of Rutland
for the manor of Whitwell.
In 1843 the house passed to the Thorold family by the marriage of Charlotte Mower. This family can be traced back 900 years to the Sheriff of Lincoln who lived during the reign of Edward the Confessor
.
Up until 2006 the house had been in the ownership of the Milward
family for many years, of Milward's Needles
, for knitting, surgical and fishing tackle fame. With the death of Rosemary Milward (née Smedley-Aston), a well-respected local medieval historian and wife of Chesterfield Surgeon F. John Milward the house was put on the open market and sold in 2006.
barn and farmland. The medieval Cruck barn stands to the west side of the farmland, and is believed to be the longest continuous roofed barn in Derbyshire of this age.
Damage was caused to the building by a land mine
in April 1941. The comprehensive restoration was carried out to the east wall, and a sheet of paper was discovered behind a wall plate, which was thought to have been left there when the house was built in 1624.
The property is built over four storey
s, featuring several separate cellar
s, ground floor, first floor and extensive attic
s in the roof. The house, which has eight bedrooms, still retains the very wide fireplace
s in both the kitchen (stretching across most of one wall) and the drawing room.
The property is of thinly bedded coursed measured sandstone
with ashlar
dressings, coped gable
s, quoin
s, gable and end ashlar ridge stacks with moulded
caps and a stone slated roof. To the north elevation there is a central gabled range with tall chamfer
mullion
ed window set centrally at each floor level beneath a drip mould; the ground floor with four window lights, the second floor with three window lights and the attic floor with two.
The west gable now incorporates a porch
internally which appears to be a 17th century addition. The ground floor rooms retain good 17th century hearth
s especially the pleasant kitchen with its wide segmental ashlar arch. The dining room retains chamfered and quoined surrounds to the hearths and has 17th century square oak panelling.
The staircase with masonry
centre wall and oak stairs has a massive oak door at the half landing which is secured from the flight above. At the attic floor level, there are four exposed roof truss
es, three of which are braced with collar beams and longitudinal braces.
The house features a garage/coachhouse attached to the main structure, which shows signs of having being a two storey arrangement at some point in the past. Within the present garage is a single upper cruck truss.
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
situated at Barlow Woodseats, on the edge of the village of Barlow
Barlow, Derbyshire
Barlow is a village and civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 884. The village is about three miles north-west of Chesterfield....
, in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
. It remains the only manor house in the Parish of Barlow, and the current house dates from the early 17th century, although there are much earlier origins.
History
Manorial tenure began with Ascoit Musard in 1086 and ownership passed through members of several families including the Earl of ShrewsburyEarl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation, 1074:The first creation occurred in 1074 for Roger de Montgomerie, one of William the Conqueror's principal counselors...
from 1593. The present hall dates from the 17th century but there has been a house here from at least 1269 when it was called Barlew Woodsets meaning ‘a house in the wood belonging to Barley’. The deeds dated June 1368 and later dates refer to Barley Wodesetes.
It is also believed to be once occupied by one of Derbyshire’s best known daughters Bess of Hardwick
Bess of Hardwick
Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (c. 1521 – 13 February 1608, known as Bess of Hardwick, was the daughter of John Hardwick, of Derbyshire and Elizabeth Leeke, daughter of Thomas Leeke and Margaret Fox...
who married the owner of the Hall; he subsequently died in 1544. This was the first of her four husbands even though she was only 14.
The main house was built by local yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
Arthur Mower, and it is believed this was around the time he married in 1620. Arthur Mower was appointed Agent to George Barley, Lord of the Manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
in Barlow in 1563, then on George's death in 1568 to his son Peter Barley. Mower died in 1652 but several generations of his family occupied the house in subsequent years.
The manor of Barlow was held, with Staveley, by the Musards; it was afterwards in the ancient family of Abitot, a branch of which, on settling here, is supposed to have taken their name from the place. The family of Barlow, or Barley, possessed it for several generations.
James Barley, Esq., sold it in 1593, to George Earl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation, 1074:The first creation occurred in 1074 for Roger de Montgomerie, one of William the Conqueror's principal counselors...
; the Earl of Newcastle
Earl of Newcastle
Earl of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a title that has been created two times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1623 in favour of Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox. He was made Duke of Richmond at the same time. For information on this creation, see the Duke of Lennox...
purchased it of the Shrewsbury family in the reign of James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
or Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. Having passed by descent to his Grace the Duke of Portland, it was in 1813, exchanged with the Duke of Rutland
Duke of Rutland
Earl of Rutland and Duke of Rutland are titles in the peerage of England, derived from Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. The Earl of Rutland was elevated to the status of Duke in 1703 and the titles were merged....
for the manor of Whitwell.
In 1843 the house passed to the Thorold family by the marriage of Charlotte Mower. This family can be traced back 900 years to the Sheriff of Lincoln who lived during the reign of Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
.
Up until 2006 the house had been in the ownership of the Milward
Henry Milward & Sons
Henry Milward & Sons is a British manufacturer of sewing needles..Entaco as featured on the One Show on BBC One are the suppliers of John James Needles but with the majority being imported from China to their specifications and not in Redditch as portrayed on the programme.The earliest reference...
family for many years, of Milward's Needles
Henry Milward & Sons
Henry Milward & Sons is a British manufacturer of sewing needles..Entaco as featured on the One Show on BBC One are the suppliers of John James Needles but with the majority being imported from China to their specifications and not in Redditch as portrayed on the programme.The earliest reference...
, for knitting, surgical and fishing tackle fame. With the death of Rosemary Milward (née Smedley-Aston), a well-respected local medieval historian and wife of Chesterfield Surgeon F. John Milward the house was put on the open market and sold in 2006.
Property description
The house is separate from its ancient CruckCruck
A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which supports the roof of a building, used particularly in England. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally bent, timber beams that lean inwards and form the ridge of the roof. These posts are then generally secured by a...
barn and farmland. The medieval Cruck barn stands to the west side of the farmland, and is believed to be the longest continuous roofed barn in Derbyshire of this age.
Damage was caused to the building by a land mine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
in April 1941. The comprehensive restoration was carried out to the east wall, and a sheet of paper was discovered behind a wall plate, which was thought to have been left there when the house was built in 1624.
The property is built over four storey
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
s, featuring several separate cellar
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
s, ground floor, first floor and extensive attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
s in the roof. The house, which has eight bedrooms, still retains the very wide fireplace
Fireplace
A fireplace is an architectural structure to contain a fire for heating and, especially historically, for cooking. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or other flue allows gas and particulate exhaust to escape...
s in both the kitchen (stretching across most of one wall) and the drawing room.
The property is of thinly bedded coursed measured sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
with ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
dressings, coped gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s, quoin
Quoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
s, gable and end ashlar ridge stacks with moulded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
caps and a stone slated roof. To the north elevation there is a central gabled range with tall chamfer
Chamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
mullion
Mullion
A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
ed window set centrally at each floor level beneath a drip mould; the ground floor with four window lights, the second floor with three window lights and the attic floor with two.
The west gable now incorporates a porch
Porch
A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...
internally which appears to be a 17th century addition. The ground floor rooms retain good 17th century hearth
Hearth
In common historic and modern usage, a hearth is a brick- or stone-lined fireplace or oven often used for cooking and/or heating. For centuries, the hearth was considered an integral part of a home, often its central or most important feature...
s especially the pleasant kitchen with its wide segmental ashlar arch. The dining room retains chamfered and quoined surrounds to the hearths and has 17th century square oak panelling.
The staircase with masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
centre wall and oak stairs has a massive oak door at the half landing which is secured from the flight above. At the attic floor level, there are four exposed roof truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es, three of which are braced with collar beams and longitudinal braces.
The house features a garage/coachhouse attached to the main structure, which shows signs of having being a two storey arrangement at some point in the past. Within the present garage is a single upper cruck truss.