Seven remarkable things about Calverley Old Hall
The momentous restoration of Calverley Old Hall is now complete, and this Grade-I listed medieval manor house is back to its best, ready to welcome overnight guests into its inspiring spaces and rich past. Here are just a few reasons why Calverley Old Hall should be your next Landmark stay.
Calverley Old Hall is an exceptional medieval manor house in the traditional Yorkshire village of Calverley. The hall has its origins in the 1300s and was expanded in each subsequent time period, leaving us with an archaeological kaleidoscope of Britain since the medieval times, tumbling around a human story that’s just as colourful.
Evolving from a high-status medieval manor house to workers’ cottages from the mid-18th century, the Hall has been altered and divided up many times over the centuries, its secrets left concealed in walls and behind plasterboard. The three-year restoration of Calverley Old Hall has been one of our most dramatic and captivating ever, with plenty of twists, turns and astonishing finds along the way as this ancient building slowly gave up its stories.
Now that the restoration is complete, Calverley Old Hall’s grand contemporary living spaces encased in medieval walls are ready to welcome their first guests in centuries. Here are just some of the reasons to book your stay and experience this historical treasure trove for yourself.
You can fall asleep among some of Britain’s rarest Tudor wall paintings
Our restoration of Calverley Old Hall took a turn towards the high Renaissance in 2021 when the Landmark team were doing some routine investigation work in one of the building’s least interesting rooms: a square, plain bedroom in the parlour block.
While removing small areas of plasterboard to check the state of timber frame underneath, something was dimly glimpsed beneath. It was to be, in the words of Landmark’s Director Anna Keay, ‘the discovery of a lifetime’. Fantastical laughing birds, roaring griffins, and little winged men with vases for bodies were all there, in what was discovered to be one of the most sophisticated schemes of Tudor wall paintings found anywhere in Britain. Covered over by paneling soon after its creation, the paintings are in unbelievably good condition, being last touched by Tudor hands 500 years ago and giving us a direct line back to Elizabethan England.
The wall paintings have now been sensitively cleaned and consolidated by Opus Conservation, and the room has become a simple – and very special – bedroom for two. Read all about the discovery of the Calverley Old Hall wall paintings and explore a detailed history of the paintings.
Hundreds of everyday items had been hidden in the walls
Throughout the restoration works, hundreds of concealed objects were found tucked into wall cavities and eaves, in places they could not have got to by accident. Shoes, eggs, metal objects, plaster fragments, bobbins, scraps of clothing, keys, and many more everyday items, each once significant to somebody. The number of such objects emerging from the walls was surprising even to our archaeologists
Humble objects in themselves, they are assumed to be charms against bad luck and tell a tale of enduring local folk superstition. These were all carefully saved and studied and have been returned to be safely stored inside the finished building, just as they were always meant to be.
The house was the scene of a shocking murder that rocked Jacobean England
On 23 April 1605, overwhelmed by debt and doubting his wife’s faithfulness, the young Lord of the Manor, Walter Calverley, brutally stabbed and murdered his two tiny sons. He then attempted the same on his wife Philippa, her life saved only by the boning in her corset.
The murders were soon dramatised as A Yorkshire Tragedy, performed by the King’s Men at The Globe and originally attributed to William Shakespeare, but now considered the work of Thomas Middleton. The motive for the murders is still contested, and the story burns brightly in local lore. Impossible now to know where in the building they took place, this in-depth blog by Caroline Stanford, Landmark’s Historian, pores over the evidence surrounding this ancient tragedy.
Calverley Old Hall was already a Landmark
If Calverley Old Hall feels familiar, it’s because part of the building has been a Landmark since 1981. The great house was sold and divided up into cottages in the 18th century, and many generations of cloth workers, labourers, cobblers and others then lived on the site. It was in this divided state that the Landmark Trust took it on in 1981, with a long-term goal of restoring the entire building in several phases. In 1982-4, a Landmark let was formed from two fire-damaged cottages at the north end and enjoyed by thousands from 1983-2021. The Chapel, Solar and Great Hall were cleared and partially restored in the 1980s, then kept wind- and weathertight by Landmark while their future use was decided. Fast forward four decades, and it was time for a new look at the whole building.
We held an international architectural competition to find the right design
In 2017, we launched an international design competition seeking innovative architects to develop plans to revive Calverley Old Hall. Of the many entries, eight fantastic designs were shortlisted, and English firm Cowper Griffith were ultimately chosen as the winner with their ambitious scheme which, in the architect’s words was 'informed by the analogy of a worn tapestry, much loved and repaired.' The chosen design identifies the historic pattern of use and restores the main social spaces of the house, reviving their communal and collective purposes, and respecting the site’s long history and ancient fabric while bringing it unmistakably into the 21st century. Read more about Cowper Griffith’s original concept for Calverley which has, of course, flexed and adapted along the way in dialogue with the building’s archaeological discoveries.
Sustainability was key to the restoration
The highest standards of sustainability were observed throughout these works, making the building ready for whatever the next seven hundred years hold. We re-used salvaged fabric whenever possible, and traditional materials, even down to the sheep’s wool insulation of the Great Hall roof. Six deep bore holes were drilled in the grounds for ground source heating, and this now feeds underfloor heating. Further heating comes from the two stoves, which burn smokeless fuel. The exterior stonework was meticulously repointed inside and out in lime mortar by masons who took great care to match mortar colour and pointing style. We have also fitted a Type 2 Electric Vehicle charger point at the property.
Calverley Old Hall is back at the heart of the community
There was always a strong desire to return Calverley Old Hall back to prominence within the local community and, thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players, we’ve been able to do just that. Workshops, events, accredited training and work experience placements have taken place regularly throughout the restoration, keeping traditional craft skills alive and providing meaningful opportunities for local people. And although the works are now complete, the spirit of collaboration lives on within the hall’s Community Garden and a Community Space, which can be hired for workshops and other events.
The restoration of Calverley Old Hall is now complete, and the building is available to be booked for stays of three nights or longer. It sleeps up to 10 people in five rooms, including two accessible ground-floor bedrooms.
The restoration of Calverley Old Hall is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, and a host of other supporters, we have been able to rescue and restore this Grade-1 listed building for future generations.