Weetwood Hall, Chatton. Photo by Peter Ryder.

(NU 01662973) In 1541 there was a small tower at Weetwood in good repair. It is mentioned in 1587, and is now part of Weetwood Hall. (1)(2)(3)

Weetwood Hall, incorporating remains of a tower, stands upon a gentle south east slope, overlooking the River Till, 300m to the south east, and overlooked by high ground to the north west. The modern building, about mid-18th century, is built of well shaped, sand-stone blocks, coursed, bonded and cemented and consists of a centre section, oblong, flanked by two gabled extensions of the same width. The centre part of the building is flat-roofed on the west side, but gabled longwise on the east face.The tower was incorporated into the modern building, except probably on the east side, where in the centre of the facade are two buttresses, in appearance of considerable age, reaching in three stages to the eaves, and built of coursely shaped sandstone stones, with no bonding or coursing. Most of this side of the building has been covered with pebble dash and then whitewashed, so the structure of the stone work is obscured, but the presence of the buttresses suggest this section of the wall to be a part of the old tower. Mr Curry, owner, indicated to the Investigator, within the tower, the thickness (approx 1.5m) of two of the interior walls which are now east-west party walls and which are approximately on line with the exterior sides of the buttresses, on the east face. There is no other visible evidence of the remains of the tower, and Mr Curry has no further information to offer. (4)

Weetwood Hall, visited October 1993 by Peter Ryder. House in need of major works.
The main front of the house (facing south) is two storeyed, with a three-bay centre between two slightly projecting wings, and a two-bay block set further back to the right. Each wing has a Venetian window on the ground floor; there is a later single-storey porch at the left end of the centre piece. The apparent uniformity of the main part of the house belies considerable complexity. The right hand wing has side walls 1.4m and 1.6m thick, which mean that it is almost certainly medieval, although its rear (north) wall is thinner and may well have been rebuilt. A number of odd cupboards in its walls may have their origins in mural chambers; part of an old chamfered window is exposed at first floor level on the west, inside the central portion of the front, which is in fact an infill between the two wings, fronting an older east-west block. Inside, at attic level, part of a cross-gable of this older block survives, and adjacent to it some apparent external quoins, which seem to imply that the western bay of this block was originally either a separate structure, or one that stood higher than that to the east. The walls of this part are quite thick, but nothing like as massive as those of the east wing; the west end wall is the thickest, and has a massive buttress-like projection externally, which may conceal an external oven. The rear (north) side of this older block has two big stepped buttresses, which may reflect structural problems rather than great antiquity. All the external walls of this section are pebble-dashed.
Internally, the southern ground floor room in the east wing has a good cornice, and some woodwork, of mid-18th century date, probably contemporary with the two Venetian windows. The way in which the lintels of these cut into the adjacent stonework makes them look like insertions. In the west wing the first floor cuts across the head of the Venetian window, and probably has always done so; in the centre part, the first floor windows are strangely high above the first floor - all this is probably to achieve a well-balanced and symmetrical facade.
The elongate plan of the east wing suggests that it originates as an early cross-wing rather than as a solitary tower, although it may well have been raised into a tower at some time. The old east-west section may represent either an early hall, or a short hall and a service bay. There was clearly considerable remodelling in the 18th century (the south fronts of both wings), and perhaps more (the present curved stair, and perhaps the infill block between the wings) c.1800-10; the porch and the block beyond the east wing are of mid or late 19th century date.
There is also an interesting range of outbuildings, now in very poor condition, immediately north-east of the house; the picturesque old dovecote to the north; and the extensive earthworks on either side of the road which leads to Weetwood Bridge. (5)

Weetwood Hall. Grade II listed building. Mid 18th to early 19th century date, with medieval core.possibly a former pele tower or tower house. The two storey house is built of ashlar with a slate roof. (6)

The pre 18th century part of the house is L-shaped and plan and consists of the thick walled south wing and the east range, running northward from its east end. When the house was remodelled in the later 18th century a second westward facing wing (the north wing) was built on to the west side of the east range and either at the same time, or shortly afterward, the re-entrance between the wings infilled by the central block to produce an overall rectangular plan c.21m by 13m externally. Later additions are a small porch on the west front and the rectangular south block.
Although the ground plan of the house gives a good indication of its structural development through varying wall thicknesses etc, much of the fabric of the building is concealed externally by render, or internally by plaster and stoothing. In addition, the west end and probably also the south wall of the south wing were refaced in the 18th century.
THE SOUTH WING
Externally, this measures 13m by 7.5m. The south wall averages 1.45m thick and the north wall 1.1m; this discrepancy may be due to the former wall having been refaced, the small parts of its external face which can be glimpsed currently appear to be of the same pink sandstone ashlar as the 18th century west front. The re-faced west end wall tapers from 1.05m to 1.2m thick, whilst the east end is considerably thinner (c.0.8m) and may have been rebuilt.
The eastern part of the ground floor of the wing is occupied by the kitchen which has no evidence of any old fireplace. Openings in both north and south walls have splayed jambs, suggesting that they may be pre-18th century in origin, although no architectural detail is exposed. On the south of the kitchen the servants or back stair is set against a thin (brick?) cross wall; beyond this is a drawing room with two mural cupboards in its south wall perhaps utilising earlier openings. At first floor level the west jamb and sill of an early window are exposed in the western part of the south wall of the wing; they show a stepped and chamfered section and are presumably of 17th century or earlier date. The head of the opening has either been replaced or formed by a block of stone without any chamfer or moulding whatsoever.
The refaced west end of the wing has a Venetian window at ground floor level set to balance that in the north wing. The fact that the first floor of the wing cuts across the internal head of this window and that the gable itself is slightly narrower than the wing behind points to the high prioritygiven to the achievement of a symmetrical facade during the 18th century remodelling. The first floor window has a plain raised stone surround.
The east end of the wing is of roughly squared and coursed stone. Heavy pointing obscures possible traces of an earlier opening between the two ground floor windows and all its windows have raised surrounds of the usual type.
At attic level another section of a similar window jamb, together with a piece of more elaborate moulding, are re-used in the internal face of the west gable - evidence of an earlier, slightly lower, gable line are also visible.
THE EAST RANGE:
This is made up of two parts, an end bay 8m long and 6.5m wide, with side walls 0.75m thick and a north end wall of 1.4m, linked to the south wing by a narrower bay 5m long and 4.5m wide with side walls of c.0.75m.
The north end wall of the ground floor room in the end bay has recently been exposed and shows the remains of a fireplace 2.8m wide. Sections of its chamfered jambs are exposed, but its lintel appears to have been removed when the present fireplace was inserted. At a higher level, a segmental arch of roughly shaped blocks seems likely to be a relieving arch. On the east side of the fireplace is a closet-like recess beneath a crude timber lintel. Its walls are largely of rubble. The rubble on its east side appears to be infilling an opening as remains of plaster are visible on its south side. This presumably opened into the strange buttress like projection at this point, or an earlier structure in the same location. The present first floor level
in this bay has been considerably raised, so that the lower parts of a first floor fireplace (apparently with plain unchamfered jambs) and another closet (this time on the west side of the fireplace) are partly exposed in the ground floor room. This closet, also under a timber lintel, is lit by a small square headed window in its rear wall. This has been re-opened and has plain unchamfered jambs and a timber lintel externally.
The east side of the range has, in addition to the buttress like projection at the north east corner, two large buttresses (against one of which a small late 19th or early 20th century porch has been built). These have been seen in the past as evidence of medieval fabric but are probably an 18th or 19th century response to the structural problems this part of the building has suffered. The external faces of both east and north walls are concealed by render.
No old features are exposed in the narrow centre bay of the range. On the west side of this, in the re-entrant between the end bay and the south wing, a small stair hall was contrived at in the 18th century remodelling. The stair, the projection of which gives the ground floor room in the 18th century front block an L-plan, is of rather unusual form; it is semi-circular in plan and of stone with stick balusters.
THE NORTH WING AND CENTRE BLOCK:
The north wing and the central block are both of late 18th century date, with walls 0.65m thick. The gable end of the north wing is virtually identical to that of the south wing. The block between is of three bays, with windows of the usual type. The main door was originally sited in the centre of this front, but was later moved to the north end bay and covered by a plain flat topped porch. The original opening has been reduced in size and converted to a window (doubtless utilising the dressings of the window from the north end bay). The windows at first floor level are uncomfrtably high above the floor, so as to preserve the proportions of the western facade.
THE SOUTH BLOCK:
This, the latest major addition, is of the same plain character as the 18th century parts of the house, except that it is a hip-ended rather than a gable roof.
STRUCTURAL HISTORY - THE EARLY HOUSE:
From its wall thicknesses the south wing has clearly been built as a defensible structure and is probably the oldest part of the house. Its elongate plan would be rather unusual in a tower house of the normal type, which leaves two possibilities:
i) That this is the cross wing of an early hall house that may have had its walls thickened and heightened on cenversion into a more tower like building, at a later medieval date (cf Rock Hall and perhaps Embleton Vicarage). In this case a date in the 13th or early 14th century would seem likely, before the onset of the 'three hundred years' war with Scotland.
ii) The plan and wall thicknesses could also be interpreted as a strong house of the same type as Doddington 'Bastle' (1584), Pressen and the surviving building at Castle Heaton. This would correlate with a reconstruction after the known depredations of the Scots in the 1540s. The only architectural feature currently visible - the jamb of the blocked first floor window - would tie in with a 16th or early 17th century date.
The north range would appear, from its rather thinner walls, to be of later date than the south wing, although, if hypothesis (i) is correct, it might incorporate some fabric of an early hall block. The southern seciton of the wing seems too narrow to interpret as a hall. The onlt architectural features exposed, in the north end wall (the fireplace and closets) look crude and almost vernacular and are certainly of 17th century (or earlier?) character.
The major remodelling of the house which took place in the 18th century, probably under the Ordes, is responsible for its present external character. The new front elevation with twin gables, each with a Venetian window at ground floor level, is of pink sandstone of near ashlar quality. There is little other architectural detail, except that almost all the windows have plain raised stone surrounds. The form of the stair, with its stick balusters, the use of Venetian windows and the remaining internal features (doors, cornices, etc) would all suggest a date in the second half of the century.
The outline plans of the house given on early Ordnance Survey maps helps to roughly date later changes to the fabric. The present west porch, replacing a previous doorway in the centre bay, is an addition of between c.1860 (1st ed 6!) and 1897. The south block was added between 1897 and 1924. (7)

Weetwood Hall and its gardens appear on two sets of vertical aerial photographs, taken in 1947 and 1972. (8a-b)

Additional bibliographic reference. (8c)

Weetwood Hall alledgedly occupies the site of a deserted Medieval village. (8d)

Listed by Cathcart King. (8e)