Langley Hall. November 1999


Langley Hall. November 1999


Langley Hall. North-East gable. July 2001


Langley Old Hall © Ryder, P 2006


Langley Old Hall © Ryder, P 2006


Langley Old Hall © Ryder, P 2006


Langley Old Hall © Ryder, P 2006


Langley Old Hall © Ryder, P 2006


Langley Old Hall © Ryder, P 2006

These are the remains of Langley Hall, a fortified manor house. Langley was in the hands of the Scrope family from the 14th century until the extinction of the direct line of the family with the death of Emanuel Lord Scrope in 1630; it is generally thought that the Hall was built by Henry Lord Scrope, d1533; Hutchinson records his name in an inscription over the hall fireplace. In the 17th century it passed to the family of the Marquis of Winchester and then in the 18th to the Lambtons, by which time the buildings had fallen into ruin, and were being used as a farm. The remains have continued to deteriorate throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, considerable sections of wall having fallen within the last 40 or 50 years. Part of the hall was turned into a farmhouse which was still in use in 1835.

The ruins comprise the remains of two ranges of buildings set on the opposite sides of a courtyard c23m across. Whilst the site is aligned almost exactly north-east to south-west, in the following description this is modified to east-west, taking the south-east side (from which the house has clearly been approached) as south. Thus the standing remains are almost entirely of the west and east ranges; there has clearly been a north range and probably also one on the south, although its exact position is no longer clear. The ruins stand within a roughly rectangular moated enclosure, the longer axis of which lies east-west. There may have been a further enclosure or court between the buildings and the moat on the east. The moat is best preserved on the north, and still holds water around the north-west corner. The south-east angle of the enclosure is cut across by a track that forms the boundary of the present woodland.

Today the ruins of two large stone buildings can be seen, as well as traces of a third. The carved windows and doorways appear to be 16th century in style.