Description

ASKRIGG NAPPA
SD 99 SE
9/27 Nappa Hall
16.1.52
GV I
Fortified manor house. 1459, with C17 wing. For James Metcalfe. Rubble,
stone slate roof. Single-storey central hall flanked by 4-storey western
and 2-storey eastern towers, with south-east wing projecting forward at
right angles from eastern tower, and entrance porch in angle so formed.
Quoins. Porch: pointed arch with continuous hollow-chamfered moulding with
label. A single-light chamfered window on each return. Parapet. Pointed-
arched inner doorway with continuous hollow-chamfered moulding and leaved
6-panel door. To left, 2 cross-windows with cinque-cusped pointed lights,
hood-moulds with headstops, quarry panes and iron bars. Parapet. West
tower, main defensible unit: windows with cinque-cusped pointed lights under
hood-moulds, those to ground, first and third floors with headstops, quarry
panes and iron bars. Ground floor: 3-light window; to right, light vent to
spiral staircase from ground to first floor. First floor: 2-light window,
light vent to right. Second floor: single light. Third floor: single
light. Crenellated parapet. Head of stair turret in south-east corner.
East: kitchen and service wing: sash window on first floor, crenellated
parapet. Rear elevation east tower: projecting chimney stack. Left return
of west tower: board door in C19 ashlar sandstone chamfered rusticated
quoined surround with pointed arch with keystone and springers. On each
floor, a cinque-cusped single-light window in chamfered surround. Slightly-
projecting chimney stack on ground and first floors. String. Gargoyle.
Right return of east tower: to basement, 2 lattice windows in chamfered
openings, and on right 2 windows under wide relieving arch. Ground floor:
4 sash windows with glazing bars in sandstone ashlar surrounds with
interrupted jambs. First floor: 2 similar windows. In centre, projection
of buttress of garderobe. Corbelled fireplace or garderobe to left on first
floor. Projecting turret in south-east corner. West elevation of south-
east range: central studded board door in quoined surround with segmental-
arched head. On ground floor on either side, a 3-light double-chamfered
mullion window with hoodmould, and 16-pane sashes above on first floor.
Double gable with lead rainwater head between cast
"T M"
with JULY , (Thomas Metcalfe, d1754). Rear elevation of south-east range:
1747
on each floor a single-light window in chamfered, quoined surround. The
building has numerous lead rainwater pipes and fluted hopper heads.
Interior, west tower: stone newel staircase from ground floor to roof.
Wave-moulded cross-beams supported on stone corbels, with remains of
medieval joists. In first-floor chamber, fragment of plasterwork frieze,
chamfered fireplace and chamfered doorway leading to rear room with stone
chute in wall leading to external gargoyle. Hall: segmental arched
fireplace and doorway to west tower. East tower: late C18 - early C19
cantilevered dog-leg staircase with hollow-moulded soffits to treads.
Probably the finest and least-spoilt fortified manor house in the north of
England. For centuries belonged to the Metcalfes, one of the most important
Wensleydale families. Described by Leland as a "very goodly House".
Hartley M and Ingilby J, Yorkshire Village (1979). VCH i, pp 204-5, 208.

Listing NGR: SD9657990795

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Nappa Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17538264

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

• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record