Listed Building record MDR3503 - Holme Hall, Holme Lane, Bakewell

Holme Hall, Holme Lane, Bakewell, built in 1626. 'Grade I listed building. 1626 datestone but lower portion to the north may be earlier. An attractive small mansion in the genre of Haddon Hall. Stone with quoins, hipped roof. Main facade embattled with obelisk finials. Central porch wing of three storeys, door now blocked, large trans-mullioned window upper storey. Three storeys at either side with two storey embattled transmullioned bay windows, tiered overall. Chimneys back onto one massive central chimney stack. Former chapel below terrace at rear. Lower north wing built partly of chert, presumably from Holme Bank behind the house, where the oldest chert quarry in Bakewell was situated. Three storeys, top storey dormers with oval lights with moulded architraves and four keystones, each. Below, mullioned windows, ground floor windows with later Gothic glazing bars. Central gothic arched doorway of 14th or 15th century now blocked and contains later entrance with massive timber door. Interior: Ground floor of oldest part, formerly used as a kitchen, retains massive stone fireplace arch. Stone fireplaces to central shaft in rest of house. 17th century rail and muntin square panelling with band of arcading at top- a different design in each room. Crossed chamfered ceiling beams. Upper floor has slightly concave plaster ceiling with curved beams.' (1-2) 'The main part of the house dates from 1626, however the west wing, set slightly back, almost certainly dates from Tudor times, The recorded history does not go back that far, where the earliest reference is when Bernard Wells took up residence with his wife Barbara, and converted what was a small farmstead into a sizeable mansion in 1626. Bernard Wells is buried in Bakewell Church where there is a brass plate to his memory. Structural changes there have been, but mostly minor ones that have done nothing to impair the character of the building, which still carries the flavour of the 17th century. The main entrance porch is now on the east side of the house, (an alteration probably made in the 19th century for no obvious reason), which then leads into a spacious hall finely panelled in dark oak, as indeed are most of the rooms at Home. In the old kitchen, now the billiard room, there is evidence of a Tudor farmhouse kitchen, with studded door, beamed ceiling, and a immense fireplace which is at least 15ft across. The main staircase is Jacobean, a broad example of its period.' (3-4) From the National Heritage List for England: 'BAKEWELL SK2169 HOLME LANE 831-1/3/103 (North side (off)) 13/03/51 Holme Hall (Formerly Listed as: HOLME (North side) Holme Hall) GV I Mansion. Dated 1626 and 1628 but with earlier and later wings. The 1626-28 range built for Barnard Wells. Coursed limestone and chert with ashlar sandstone to the porch facade, parapets, stacks and dressings; graduated slate and stone slate roofs. EXTERIOR: 1626-28 block of 3 storeys and 3x4 bays; later C17 wing to rear right is lower and of 3 bays; 2-storey and attic, 3-bay wing against left return forms an L-shape enclosing an early wing adjoining the rear left corner of the 1626-28 block. Various mullioned and transomed windows with leaded lights. Original (south) entrance front: symmetrical; large quoins; chamfered plinth. Central 3-storey porch with moulded doorway infilled by ovolo-moulded cross-window; lintel with recessed date panel 'BWB 1626'; moulded and transomed 4-light window with dripmould to first floor; double-chamfered 4-light window to second floor. Bays to either side have early canted 2-storey bay windows with renewed cross-windows and rectangular-pane leaded lights; second-floor windows as centre (which, together with the central first-floor window have diamond-pane leaded lights). String courses beneath embattled ashlar parapets with shaped finials and central bellcote said to bear the date 1628 and name 'Barnard Wells' (sic). Hipped roof with rolled-lead ridges; large central stack with band, cornice and ashlar pots. Wing set back to left: various double-chamfered mullioned windows with iron casements and Gothick leaded lights; single-light window to first-floor right has 6/9 sash; dripmoulds. Studded, cross-boarded oak door in chamfered, quoined surround which cuts a pointed-arched doorway of uncertain date. Parapet links 3 dormers each with one keyed oeil-de-boeuf beneath ogee gable with moulded copings and finial. Hipped roof with corniced ridge stack and 3 matching dormers to left return. Right return of 1626-28 block: ovolo-moulded cross-windows to each floor; interrupted dripmoulds; C19 doorway to bay 3 has studded door and fanlight with ogee glazing bars in moulded, arched surround beneath hoodmould. Later wing to right, of C17 origin, has doorway to bay 3, otherwise 2-light double-chamfered mullioned windows to the outer bays. Single-light window to first-floor centre beneath C19 arched 3-light window. Ashlar parapet with finials; end stack on right. Rear: earliest wing to rear-left corner of 1626-28 range has large external end stack adjoined by winding stone steps to attic door on right; ashlar stack to ridge of stone slate roof. INTERIOR: ground floor of earliest wing has massive kitchen fireplace with chamfered arch and niches within; large scantling ceiling beams join into a transverse beam (now clad) possibly on the line of a former screen. The room above has a bolection-moulded fireplace and 2-panel door. Fragment of a smoke-hood said to survive in the attic to rear of this wing. 1626-28 range with ashlar fireplaces backing onto the central stack; oak panelling to the principal rooms, carved friezes of different designs. Closed-string oak staircase with turned balusters and half-balusters against the newels; deep-section handrail; early pendants but later ball finials. The lower and upper passageways generally remodelled early C19 with 6-panel doors and basket archways. Second-floor of rear-right wing has former chapel with cambered tie beam and arched ceiling. Listing NGR: SK2154769106.' (5)