Historic Architecture in Woolley – Part 2

 

The gatepiers at The Old Court House

Continuing along New Road in Woolley, to photograph its historic architecture as part of another British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, my next stop was Oak Villa, a mid to late C18 house that is Grade II Listed for its group value and which I only photographed from a distance.

 

Oak Villa

 

The Grade II Listed gatepiers to the walled garden of Woolley Hall was next on my list, which provides another example of the massive Woolley Edge Rock, with very pronounced iron staining and differentially weathered cross-bedding. 

 

Gatepiers to the walled garden at Woolley Hall

I then walked down Woolley Park Gardens to find the early C19 Grade II listed water cistern cover, which has a hexagonal plan with Gothick 2-centred-arched recessed panels to each side and a cornice, with a pyramidal and a ball finial. 

 

The water cistern cover

 

The area once occupied by the walled garden is now largely developed with substantial modern houses in spacious grounds and, with the lack of post office, shops, public houses or a school in Woolley necessitating multiple car ownership, the village has quite an affluent feel to it.

 

Views of The Old Court House

 

Approaching the Old Court House, there is no clue to its actual age, which Historic England describes as ‘fragmentary remains of a C16 century timber framed building encased in stone during the mid C17 and refenestrated in the mid C18 and further altered in the mid C20’. 

 

A gatepier to the Old Court House

 

The gatepiers to the Old Court House are separately listed, also Grade II, but I was more interested in the red brick house that has been built next to it, which appears to be one of the complex of buildings here that appear on the 1854 Ordnance Survey map. 

 

The brick building next to the Old Court House

 

In an area where there is an abundance of quarries in the Woolley Edge Rock, with sandstone used to build all of the other houses that I had seen in the village, it is surprising that brick has been used; however, the same map shows a brick field at the crossroads on New Road and Barnsley Road, which shows that there must have been a demand for brick in the area. 

 

The Old Vicarage

 

On the other side of New Road is the Old Vicarage, which dates back to the late C17, with a new entrance created to the west c.1810 and since converted into two houses. I could only get glimpses over the garden hedge and at the entrance and, after taking a couple of photos, walked along High Street to photograph the late C18 Coach House and the former Sunday School (c.1796), which was built for Godfrey Wentworth of Woolley Hall. 

 

The Coach House and Sunday School

 

Again, these are set in gardens with mature trees and hedges that prevented me from getting a good view of them and, just taking general photographs to record the fabric and stone slate roofs, I retraced my steps and headed up The Green. 

 

Nos. 1 and 2 The Green

 

Nos. 1 and 2 The Green (c.1718) was originally founded as a school by William Wentworth and, before being converted to houses, it was used as a village institute. It is built in the same vernacular materials as seen throughout the village and its most notable features are the multiple mullioned windows to No. 1, which was the former school room. 

 

The former Woolley Church of England School

 

The former Woolley Church of England School (1842), sited on the opposite side of the road, is now the village hall and is built with tooled sandstone walling, rusticated quoins and a Welsh slate roof. An inscribed plaque reads "This school for Girls and Infants was built by Subscription A.D. MDCCCXLII Jesus saith feed my lambs. John XXI.15". 

 

Views of Nos. 5-11 The Court Yard

 

Making my way back down to High Street and crossing over the road, the next building on my Photo Challenge was Nos. 5-11 The Court Yard, a late C18 U-shaped farm building that has been converted to multiple residential use. 

 

The barn at Beech Farm

 

The late C18 barn at Beech Farm was just a short distance further along High Street and, with this being set at right angles to the road and now converted to residential use, I just took a few photos from a distance before carrying on along the road. 

 

Woolley war memorial

At the corner of Molly Hurst Lane and Church Street, I stopped briefly to photograph the unlisted Woolley war memorial, which is in the form of a cross with an octagonal shaft and a bronze Sword of Sacrifice on its front face.

 

Inscribed panels on Woolley war memorial

 

The steps and plinth are made of concrete but the cross and inscribed panels are made of medium grained sandstone, which is quite likely to be Stancliffe Darley Dale stone – a sandstone from the Ashover Grit in Derbyshire, which was favoured for war memorials in this region.  From here, I continued down Church Street and passed by The Vicarage, where I noted that someone was at home should I need to obtain a key to get into St. Peter's church.

 

The Vicarage