Hartforth Hall

{{Short description|Historic building in North Yorkshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Use British English|date=October 2024}} thumb|right|The building, in 2015 '''Hartforth Hall''' is a historic building in Hartforth, a village in North Yorkshire, in England.

The manor of Hartforth was recorded in the Domesday Book and descended through various families. The current country house was built in 1744, and a northwest range was added in 1792, probably to a design by John Foss. In about 1900, the right-hand bays were rebuilt and a new range added at that end. The building was grade II* listed in 1969.<ref name="pevsner">{{cite book| last1 =Grenville| first1 =Jane| last2 = Pevsner | first2 = Nikolaus | author2-link = Nikolaus Pevsner | series= The Buildings of England| title =Yorkshire: The North Riding| publisher =Yale University Press | year =2023 | orig-year=1966 |location =New Haven and London | isbn =978-0-300-25903-2 }}</ref><ref name="nhle">{{NHLE |num= 1131933|desc= Hartforth Hall, Gilling with Hartforth and Sedbury|access-date= 6 October 2024}}</ref> The house passed to Sheldon Cradock, MP for Camelford, whose grandson, Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock, was born at Hartforth in 1862 and who died at the Battle of Coronel.<ref>Halpern, Paul G, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32607 ''Cradock, Sir Christopher George Francis Maurice (1862–1914)''], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (2004); online edition, January 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011. {{Subscription or membership required}}</ref> The property was operated as a hotel and wedding venue from 1986 to 2017, but the hotel is now permanently closed.<ref>[http://hartforth-hall-richmond.northyorkshirehotels.net/en/ North Yorkshire Hotels]. Retrieved 10 October 2019.</ref>

The house is built of sandstone with a Westmorland slate roof and it has two storeys. The south front has eight bays, a plinth, quoins, a floor band, a modillion cornice, a balustered parapet with square pedestals, and urn finials at the ends. Three of the bays project slightly, and contain a doorway with an architrave, a fanlight, and a tripartite keystone in a rusticated quoined surround, with a pediment. The windows are sashes in architraves. The left return has ten bays, and contains a two-storey bow window. The right return has seven bays, and contains a tetrastyle prostyle Doric portico. Inside, the south central ground floor room retains decoration from 1744, while the sitting room, bedroom above, and east staircase, all have decoration of 1792.<ref name="pevsner" /><ref name="nhle" />

thumb|right|The gateway to the hall The gateway to the hall consists of a stone arch crossing the drive. It is made from fragments of a medieval chapel, and has a four-centred arch with two orders. Above the arch is a small window, and low walls extend to the south. It is a grade II listed building.<ref name="pevsner" /><ref>{{NHLE |num= 1131932|desc= Gateway to Hartforth Hall, Gilling with Hartforth and Sedbury|access-date= 6 October 2024}}</ref>

Next to the house is a grade II listed water tower, dating from the late 19th century. The tower is built of stone, with a square plan and three stages. It contains quoins, bands, a cornice, and a parapet with ball finials on the corners. In the ground floor are two open round-arched openings with architraves and piers. The top stage contains a clock face on each side, all in oculi with keystones.<ref name="pevsner" /><ref>{{NHLE |num= 1131935|desc= Water tower approximately 5 metres to north of Hartforth Hall, Gilling with Hartforth and Sedbury|access-date= 8 October 2024}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in North Yorkshire Category:Country houses in North Yorkshire Category:Houses completed in 1744