Rockley Old Hall

Has been described as a Questionable Fortified Manor House

There are major building remains

NameRockley Old Hall
Alternative NamesFalthwaite
Historic CountryYorkshire
Modern AuthorityBarnsley
1974 AuthoritySouth Yorkshire
Civil ParishBarnsley

Manor house now 3 dwellings and attached garden wall. Of several C17 builds. Ashlar sandstone, stone slate roof. Wall of dry-walled sandstone and mortared rubble. House: 2 storeys with attics; 5 gabled bays, bays 2 and 3 narrower, entrance to rear; attached rectangular wall encloses front garden. Bay 4 appears earliest and has chamfered plinth and 4-light double-chamfered mullioned window with similar 2-light window on right, continuous dripmould; 3-light lst-floor window with dripstone; 2-light attic window. Bays 2 and 3 similar with C20 gabled porch (not of special interest) flanked on left by 5-light window and on right by 3-light window; continuous lst-floor dripmould. Bay 1, probably late C17, has French window on ground-floor right, otherwise 2-light square-faced mullioned windows and plain dripmoulds. Bay5 has door to left of C20 4-light window; single-light and 3-light windows to lst-floor, 2-light window to attic. Kneelers at each end of range, gable copings, finials to bay 2 and 3, finial bases to bays 4 and 5. Ashlar stack to ridge of bay 4 has plinth and cornice. Attached garden wall: gap in left return near house. 2 front door openings with chamfered quoins and lintels set on flagstone copings; quoined, arched doorway in right return. Rear of house: bays 1, 2 and 5 gabled. Bays 3 and 4, set back, have chamfered, bonded surround to boarded door on left, 8-light window on its right with king-mullion and transom, dripmould; 1st floor: two 3-light mullioned windows on right of former 2-light window. Bays 1 and 2 have external stone steps to central lst-floor doorway; large ground-floor opening on left with concrete lintel, 4-light window above, with dripstone, 2-light gable window. On right of steps are paired casements in square-faced surrounds. Bay 5, late C17, has square-faced 2-light mullioned windows with plain dripstones. Left return: detailed as outer gables

Right return: double-chamfered mullioned windows: two 4-light windows beneath lst-floor windows of 2, 4 and 2 lights, central window with king mullion.

Interior: No 6 on right has ashlar fireplaces, that to rear of ground floor having large basket arch with brick oven in corner, lst-floor fireplace with roll-mould. Kitchen has corniced fireplace within C18 panelling. No 7 in centre of range has large ashlar fireplace with square soffit to triangular-headed lintel. No 8 has splat-balustered staircase and panelled plaster ceilings. (Listed Building Report)

RCOKLEY OLD HALL. Wilkinson, in his 'Hisotry of Worsbrough', says to Rockleys until 1280, the De Everingham to 1573. House Elizabethan, but Wilkinson notes suggested remains of moat in garden. (Sneyd 1995)

Gatehouse Comments

No mention of moat in archaeological databases or suggested on maps, but not impossible. Entirely possibly the pre-Elizabethan house was moated and decorated with some martial symbols like battlements but unlikely to be seriously fortified.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSE341027
Latitude53.5205383300781
Longitude-1.4860999584198
Eastings434170
Northings402771
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Hey, David, 2015, A History of the South Yorkshire Countryside (Pen and Sword Books) p. 92-4
  • Sneyd, Steve, 1995, The Devil's Logbook Castles and Fortified Sites around South Yorkshire (Hilltop Press) p. 15
  • Pevsner, N., 1959, Buildings of England: Yorkshire: West Riding (London, Penguin) p. 417
  • Wilkinson, J., 1872, Worsbrough: Its Historical Associations and Rural Attractions (Barnsley) p. 59, 61, 76-77
  • Anon, 1853, Stainborough and Rockley: their Historical Associations and Rural Attractions p. 66- online copy