Preston Patrick

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Westmorland. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1936.

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'Preston Patrick', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Westmorland( London, 1936), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/westm/pp195-197 [accessed 27 July 2024].

'Preston Patrick', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Westmorland( London, 1936), British History Online, accessed July 27, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/westm/pp195-197.

"Preston Patrick". An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Westmorland. (London, 1936), , British History Online. Web. 27 July 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/westm/pp195-197.

In this section

79 PRESTON PATRICK (D.g.)

(O.S. 6 in. (a)XLIII, N.W., (b)XLIII, S.W.)

Preston Patrick is a parish 6 m. S.S.E. of Kendal. The Hall is the principal monument.

Ecclesiastical

b(1). Parish Church of St. Gregory (now called St. Patrick), formerly a chapel of Burton in Kendal, was entirely re-built in 1852 and the chancel added or re-built in 1892. It incorporates, in the tower, a 15th-century window of three trefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with a moulded label. Some of the other stonework may be old material re-used. The church contains the following ancient:—

Fittings—Niches: In E. wall of chancel—two (Plate 47) with canopies of tabernacle-work, vaulted soffits, side pinnacles and brackets carved with foliage, heads and monsters, 15th-century. Piscina: In S. wall of chancel—recess with trefoiled head and octagonal enriched drain, late 14th or early 15th century.

Condition—Rebuilt.

Secular

b(2). Challon Hall Bridge, over Pease beck nearly ¾ m. N.E. of the church, is a rubble structure of one span. The arch is segmental and the N. part may be of early 18th-century date; the S. part is a later widening.

Condition—Good.

b(3). Preston Patrick Hall, 800 yards E.N.E. of the church, is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are slate-covered. It was built probably late in the 14th century with a central hall and solar and buttery wings at the W. and E. ends. The upper part of the E. wing seems to have been remodelled late in the 15th or early in the 16th century; windows of the same age were inserted in the hall-block. The hallblock was heightened and an upper floor inserted probably late in the 17th century.

The house is an interesting example of a mediæval building and the tracery of some of the windows is of unusual form. In spite of the thickness of the lower walls of the E. wing there seems to be no evidence that it was ever carried up as a tower.

The S. front (Plate 148) of the hall-block retains part of the arch of the original doorway into the 'screens' and farther W. the head of a window of c. 1500; this and other windows of the same date in the house are of two lights with unusual tracery forming a sub-cusped trefoiled head with enriched main cusp-points; part of the head of a second window can be seen internally. A single-light window (Plate 31) of the same type has been re-set in the N. wall of the hall-block. The E. wing has the head of a third similar window at the first-floor level; it is of two lights and retains its moulded label. In the E. wall is an original doorway with a shouldered head and now blocked; higher up is a re-set original window of two trefoiled ogee lights in a square head; at the N. end there seems to have been a small projection, perhaps a garde-robe, now removed. In the N. end of the wing is a complete window of c. 1500; it is of two transomed lights with trefoiled heads and a label. In the angle between the wing and the hall-block was an original porch, of which part of the E. jamb of the outer doorway remains. The W. wing has an original 14th-century window in the S. end; it is of two transomed lights with a head similar to the E. window of the E. wing. There is a similar window in the N. end of the wing.

Preston Patrick Hall

Interior—The E. wall of the hall-block has a series of original doorways (Plate 149) opening into the E. wing; they all had shouldered heads but one has had the corbels cut away and another has been partly removed and converted into a fireplace. In the ceiling is a heavy cambered tie-beam with mortices, probably part of the central truss of the former hall-roof. The ground floor of the E. wing has a series of plain rubble barrel-vaults. The upper floor forms a long chamber, called the Court Room, and has an open roof (Plate 105) of c. 1500; it is of five bays and the trusses have heavily cambered tie-beams and king-posts with struts to the ridge; the room has a re-set original doorway with a shouldered head, formerly in the W. wing. The W. wing has the remains of an old fireplace with a segmental stone head; in the W. wall is an original doorway with a shouldered head. On the first floor is a fireplace (Plate 25) with a corbelled head and flat lintel, sloped back to the wall above the chamfered cornice. The N. window (Plate 149) has seats and the central mullion has a pierced projection for a bolt to the shutters. An original doorway in the N.E. angle perhaps opened into a former garde-robe. The roof is mediæval and has three trusses with cambered tiebeams, king-posts with curved and supporting struts and struts also to the ridge; the purlins have wind-braces. In an outbuilding, S. of the house, is the re-set head of a two-light window of c. 1500 similar to those in the house.

Condition—Good.

Monuments (4–11)

The following monuments, unless otherwise described, are of the 17th-century and of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are slate-covered. Some of the buildings have exposed ceiling-beams.

Condition—Good or fairly good.

b(4): Camsgill, house 500 yards S.E. of (3), was the birthplace of John Camm the Quaker (d. 1656). Inside the building is a panel with the initials and date I. and M.C. 1647.

b(5). Black Yeats, house 500 yards S.S.W. of (4), has been much altered and enlarged.

b(6). Hollins, house 1,450 yards S.S.E. of the church, retains two original windows. Inside the building are some original doors and a staircase with symmetrically turned balusters and square newels with ball-terminals.

b(7). Moss End, house nearly 1 m. S. of the church, was built probably early in the 18th century. The front door has mouldings forming an embattled sinking on the face of the lintel. Inside the building is a spicecupboard with the initials and date A. and A.P. 1711. The staircase has moulded newels and handrails, and there are some original doors.

b(8). Wath Sutton, house ½ m. N.W. of (7), was built early in the 18th century. There is an original panelled front door and inside the building is a muntin and plank partition of the same date. A spice-cupboard bears the initials and date I. and S.C. 1707 and an original fireplace has a corbelled head. The staircase has turned balusters and square newels with ball-terminals.

b(9). Challon Hall, ¾ m. N.N.E. of the church, was re-built in 1760 but contains two 17th-century partitions, one bearing the initials and date R. and I.W. 1616; there is also a three-stage cupboard of the local type, with enriched upper panels, pendants and fascia.

a(10). High Bracken Hall, nearly 1¼ m. N.E. of (9), retains an original panelled door.

a(11). Low Bracken Hall, 180 yards N.W. of (10), contains some original panelling and doors.