KIRKBY HALL

ALTERNATIVE NAME:

CROSS HOUSE

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DESCRIPTION

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Formerly known as Cross House. An important survival of an early manor house. The east wing was built circa 1450, the hall and west wing circa 1530. On the first floor is a chapel with wall paintings. The hall is now a farmhouse. Its original name derives from a cross which once stood at the south east angle of the court, overlooking the village green. The presence of a newel stair in the first hall may indicate that the earliest building was fortified.

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[SD 23578355 ASP] KIRKBY HALL OR CROSS HOUSE [AT] (1639). (1)

"In 1066 Kirkby Ireleth seems to have been part of Earl Tostig's Hougun lordship. It was in the King's hands in 1086, and in 1127 was included in Stephen's grant of a moiety of Furness to found the abbey so that the immediate lords were afterwards stated to Lord of the abbots. The pedigree of the Kirkby family can be traced to Orm son of Gilward or Eiward, to whom ..... Albert Grelley, lord of Manchester granted a Knight's fee in Wrightington etc., in marriage with his daughter Emma. Roger son of Orm had a confirmation of Ashton and of Heaton near Lancaster, from a later Albert Grelley about 1160. As Roger de Kirkby he attested a somewhat earlier grant of land in Copeland to Furness Abbey...."

The manor continued in the Kirkby family until 1689 when Kirkby was mortgaged to a London banker, agent to Catherine Duchess of Buckingham, who acquired it on her agent's insolvency. "In 1796 the manor became united with the Furness Abbey and Holker estates of the Cavendish family and has since descended in the same way..... A court baron is held for the manor.....

Kirkby Hall originally known as Cross House....now a farmhouse, is of two storeys...externally... of little intrest..... The plan, however, is interesting. The hall occupies the middle of the house..... The east wing which is set at an irregular angle to the front and goes back about 60ft contains the kitchen and the other rooms on the ground floor, and may be the oldest part of the house.....
To the SW of the front is a detached building now cut up for farm purposes, and a good deal modernised standing at a different angle, the original use of which can now scarcely be determined..... The west wing had originally a gable to the front.... the present hipped roof, the west slope of which is continued straight up till it joins the main roof above the hall, being quite modern..... The upper floor was occupied by a chapel..... divided into two bays by a King-post roof truss..... The chapel however is chiefly remarkable for its mural decoration [illustrated in (a)] which consists of panels with birds, animals, texts and other inscriptions all painted on plaster...... In front of the house there is a small garden enclosed by a fence wall, upon which is a loose detached stone two sides of which are carved with the arms of Kirkby & Lowiter.... while on the third side are the initials of Roger & Agnes Kirkby with the date 1639, and on the fourth the initials of eleven of their children..... The stone which may have formed part of a sundial was found in the farmyard...."[see photo of plan attached which shows the earliest work of the hall to be 15th C.] (2)

"Cross House or Kirkby Cross so called from a cross which currently stood before it, and which was partly demolished by order of Archbishop Sandys, is now named Kirkby Hall....It is a strong low building of dark red stone ... and was the residence of the Kirkby family for at least 10 generations..." (3)

On a map of 1577 (b) the house is called CROSSHOUSE. It was re-edified by ROGER KIRKBY ESQ in 1639. (4)

The basement steps of the cross have all been recently removed, but according to the site pointed out it was placed near the south-western angle of the court, in front of which was the village green, now divided by fences and put under cultivation. There is tradition that a market was once held upon this green, and crosses were generally erected at such places. [Please see LANCS SD 28 SW 1]. (5)

Description of the Hall, and the Plan from Authority 2 are fully correct. The chapel is above the 'Withdrawing Room' in the west wing, and is reached by a trapdoor over a passageway. There is no visible distinction between the east and west parts of theHall, shown on the Plan (Authority 2) to be of the 15c and 16c respectively. The windows are of three lights and are mullioned, with hood moulds over. The door is topped by a 'Tudor' flat-pointed arch. The walls, 1.0m thick, are completely covered with pebble-dash. The roofs are modern and all window and door insertions in the south-east wall of the east wing are modern. Mrs COWARD, tenant's wife, confirmed that the present name of the Hall is KIRKBY HALL. 'CROSS HOUSE' has not been used for a great many years. (6)

Window glass from KIRBY HALL chapel, dated as "Probably early 16.c" is on view in the RUSKIN Museum CONISTON. (7)

Kirkby Hall. Gde 2* (8)

A newel stair in the earliest hall may indicate that it originated as a fortified house. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1850.

( 2a) Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society

13, 1913 Page(s)287-90

( 2b) General reference

AO/55/298/1 Copy from VCH

( 2) edited by William Farrer and J. Brownbill 1914 The Victoria history of the county of Lancaster, volume 8

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)397

( 3) edited by William Farrer and J. Brownbill 1911 The Victoria history of the county of Lancaster, volume four

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)694

( 4d) General reference

Hogenburgis's Map of 1577

( 4) General reference

Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells of Lancashire, 1906, p 311 (HENRY TAYLOR)

( 5) General reference

"Furness and Central Notes" 1894. p.211. (HENRY BARBER).

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F1 ASP 19-JUL-57

( 7) Field Investigators Comments

F2 FC 22-AUG-57

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

DOE(HHR) North Lonsdale RD, Lancs Aug 1962 77-8

(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)386

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