CLIFTON HALL TOWER

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DESCRIPTION

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Late 15th/early 16th century tower house; restored in 1979. Excavation uncovered the remains of a hall and cross wing, probably built in the late 14th/early 15th century; the extant tower replaced the west cross wing. The tower was extended to the south shortly after but this extension was demolished in the late 16th/early 17th century and replaced by a new, larger hall. The house was extended again during the 18th century, but the hall was demolished in the early 19th century. The current Clifton Hall Farmhouse was built in the late 18th or early 19th century. It has a Roman carved slab built into one wall.

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[NY 53072711] Hall [NR] (1)

Clifton Hall consists of a three storeyed tower built in the late 15th or early 16th century. It seems probable that it formed the semi-fortified tower wing of a house of medieval form of which the hall-block and south cross-wing have been destroyed. It is now disused. (2)

NY 53072711 The remains (published on O.S. 25" as Old Hall) consists of a rectangular crenellated pele-tower with a turret on the SW angle. The North and South walls have indications of former supplementary buildings, though no ground evidence of these is visible. The tower is very dilapidated and is used as a farm building. See GP, AO/65/55/2.
The present Clifton Hall at NY 53152709 is a 19th century farmhouse. Incorporated in the fabric of its north wall is a Roman memorial slab with carved figures and an inscription. Mr E Holliday, the owner, has no knowledge of its provenance. (3)

Grade III. (4)

Clifton Hall taken into care of the D.O.E. (5)

Excavations in 1977 around the tower revealed building development beginning in the 15th century. The earliest building consisted of a hall-block with a west cross-wing. In the early 16th century the cross-wing was replaced by the still-standing semi-fortified tower wing, and in the 17th century a larger hall-block was built on the south side of the tower. Further additions were made in the 18th century, but demolition of the hall in the 19th century left only the tower standing. (6)

NY 53072711 Clifton Hall tower. A late 15th/early 16th century tower wing, restored in 1979. The earliest building was probably undertaken by Elainor Engaine or her son William Wyberg during the late 14th-early 15th century and consisted of a hall with two cross-wings. The tower replaced the west cross-wing by the late 15th-early 16th century. Shortly afterwards a timber framed structure of two floors was added to the south of the tower. This was demolished towards the end of the 16th or early in the 17th century and replaced by larger stone built hall. During the 18th century further additions were made to the north of the tower. The hall was demolished in the early 19th century and replaced by the present farmhouse a short distance to the east; scheduled. (7)

Clifton Hall Farmhouse. Listed Grade II. (8)

Listed with plan and illustration. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1957

( 2) Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England 1936 An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland

Page(s)69-70

( 3a) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 25" 1915

( 3) Field Investigators Comments

F1 ECW 18-AUG-65

( 4) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

North Westmorland RD, Nov 1966 Page(s)29

( 5) Ancient Monuments Board for England annual report

20, 1973 Page(s)9

( 6) Post-medieval archaeology : the journal of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology

12, 1978 Page(s)115

( 7) Scheduled Monument Notification

03-FEB-1994

( 8) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

Eden, 03-SEP-1987 1266

(9) Denis R Perriam and John Robinson 1998 The medieval fortified buildings of Cumbria : an illustrated gazetteer and research guide

Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society extra series vol.29 Page(s)272-3

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