Description

SE 2708 CAWTHORNE BARK HOUSE LANE
(North end, off
Cawthorne)

9/3 Cannon Hall
25.2.52

GV II*

Large country house, now museum. Possibly late C17 in origin but heavily
remodelled 1764-8 when single storey side wings were added. The C18 work by
John Carr for John Spencer, the mason being John Marsden. The interior
alterations in 1778 by John Carr i.e. the hall and dining room were stuccoed
and the hall columns put in place. The side wings were heightened to two
storeys in 1804 again by John Carr. The ballroom (north east wing) was added
in 1890 to plans of Sir Walter Spencer Stanhope and the panelling and gallery
completed by 1896. Restored 1965. Coursed dress sandstone with ashlar
dressings. The symmetrical composition consists of a centre 3-storey block
of 5 bays and slightly set back 2-storey side wings of 3 bays. Rusticated
quoins. Sash windows in architrave surrounds, those to ground floor and 2nd
floor of central block having pulvinated frieze and moulded cornice. The
centre window has console brackets supporting the cornice and was once a
doorway. The ground floor windows of the centre block extend to the ground
and appear to have been altered and have sashes of 6 over 9 panes. Other
sashes are mainly 12-pane, those to the shorter 2nd storey are of 6 panes and
those to the first floor of the wings are of 3 over 6 panes. Moulded eaves
cornice with balustraded parapet. Low, simple ashlar stacks set well back.
The rear elevation is similar to the front but with a central, glazed Doric
portico. The north-east wing projects to the left and is of 4 bays. Side
elevations of the main house are of 3 bays.

Interior: The hall has Doric columns at rear with flanking pilasters. Good
dog-leg stair at the rear of hall typical of the "York School". Excellent
plaster ceiling in dining room of 1767, by James Henderson of York, has a
centre rose, sinuous flowing foliage and musical instruments. The fireplace,
of 1767, is of white and ochre marble with Ionic columns, full entablature
and a central relief carving. The left room has an elaborate fireplace of
1767 from York with a C17 Dutch picture in the overmantle entitled "Still
Life with Dead sane".

The house was owned by the Spencer and Spencer Stanhope families from the
late C17 and was purchased by the County Borough of Barnsley in 1951. It was
opened as a museum in 1957.

Barnsley MB Cannon Hall - official guide

Listing NGR: SE2721708332

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Cannon Hall at Wikipedia
• Cannon Hall official website
• Wikidata Q5032765

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)