HAMPSFIELD HALL

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DESCRIPTION

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Farmhouse, built shortly before 1636. The two storey house is stone-built with a slate roof. A short distance up the hillside lies the site of an earlier house and pele tower, demolished circa 1814, with the remains of a steading to the north west.

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[SD 39518048 ASP.] Hampsfield Hall [G.T..]
[SD 39568043 ASP] Site of Tower [G.T] (1)

Hampsfield Hall is a two-storey gabled house, of stone and rough cast, and was erected "shortly before 1636". It retains many of its ancient features, "notably a large external chimney, but some of its mullioned windows have given place to sashes and the building has been otherwise modernized".... "On the hill-side about 60 yds above the house, are the foundations of an older building, a portion of which in the form of a tower, [shown on (a)]
measuring 36ft. by 23ft, was still standing till about the year
1814, when it was pulled down by the tenant in the absence of the owner and the materials used in the erection of new farmbuildings. Since 1686...Hampsfield Hall has been used as a farm house." (2)

About a hundred yards of brown glazed earthenware pipes "laid about 3 or 4 ft. deep in a roughly walled drain" were "found
near Hampsfell Hall farm in Cartmel parish some years back". Mr. Miller who possesses three of the pipes "believed they were
found" in a "long wood situated on a sloping hillside above
Hampsfell [Hampsfield] Hall, and near the higher side of which is a well. It may be that these pipes conveyed water from the well
to the hall..."

The pipes are in two sizes; 19 ins. and 16 ins in length and are socketed to fit each other, every pipe having a wide trumpet
shaped end and a narrow one. (3)

"Hampsfield Hall...was built by William Thornburgh in the place of an older house and Peel Tower which were situated about 60 yds higher up the hill, where their foundations can still be seen.
It was sold by William Thornburgh to Robert Curwen, of Cark
Hall, and Robt. Rawlinson his nephew and heir in ..1636 and was described in the deed as "the new house then lately built" and it has since descended with the rest of the Cark estate." (4)

Almost the whole of Broughton was held as part of the manor of Cartmel by the customary tenants of the Canons....The only estate called a manor was that of Hampsfield originally Hamsfell. The tenure is older than the foundation of the priory for Henry II
granted to Simon son of Hakeman his seneschal in Cartmel, the whole moiety of Hampsfield, which Uckeman his father had formerly held; a rent of 1 mark was to be paid by equal portions at the four terms. The next tenants known had taken a surname from their manor of which a settlement was made in 1314 by John de Hampsfield...." (5)

HAMPSFIELD HALL is as described by Authority 2. The roof is mainly modern but an area of slates of stone remains at the south end. West doors and windows are modern insertions, but several two, three and four-light mullioned windows remain in the east, north and west walls. There are also several small square-headed windows extant some blocked-up. Modern additions have been made against the east and north walls.

MR CROWE, the tenant, showed the Investigator a small cupboard in the kitchen which bears the intials and date, 'WTT 1687' upon the wooden door. He confirmed the name and spelling of the Hall correct as given by Authority 1, and stated that he knew nothing of the earthenware pipes referred to by Authority 3. The foundations of the Tower are marked by a rectangular turf-covered mound of earth and stones, 14.0m N-S by 9.0m E-W. The banks are 3.0-4.0m. wide, with a maximum height of 0.5m. A bank leads from the NW corner in a north-westerly direction linking up with the turf-covered foundations of what was probably a steading measuring 11.0m. by 4.0m. It is also orientated N-S, and appears to have a sub-division near to the N end. The banks of earth and store are 2.0-3.0m wide, and are of a maximum height of 0.2m. In between there are fragmentary banks, traces of what may have been two more structures. Broken ground exists close-by on the south west side. (6)

Hampsfield Hall, probably dating from 1636. Grade II*. (7)

Farmhouse, built 1687 or before. The two storey house is stone-built with a slate roof. A short distance up the hillside lies the site of an earlier house and pele tower, demolished circa 1814., with the remains of a steading to the north west. Listed Grade II. (8)

Recently discovered documents show the house to have been built by 1636. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1919

( 2a) General reference

Yates & Billings map of Lancashire, 1786.

( 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 8 Page(s)279-80

( 3) Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London

14, 1891-3 Page(s)231

( 4) Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society

3, 1885 Page(s)219

( 5) 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 8 Page(s)278

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F1 ASP 09-SEP-57

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

DOE (HHR) North Lonsdale RD, Lancs Aug 1962 48

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

District of South Lakeland, 15-FEB-1989

(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)371

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