SHALLCROSS AND YEARDSLEY HALLS. 1 87 



Bridge valley. The site is at right angles to that of its mediaeval 

 predecessor, for in accordance with the custom mentioned by 

 Mr. Andrew in his paper on Snitterton Hall, the old house 

 was usually retained intact for the use of the family until the 

 new was ready, thus necessitating a fresh site for every rebuild- 

 ing. In this instance the site selected was to the left of the 

 road of approach, and in the peaceful days of Queen Bess the 

 frpnt probably faced it without any other protection than a 

 terrace and low balustraded wall. 



A notable feature of the old halls is that they were always 

 placed where a supply of fresh water could be carried, prac- 

 tically, through the kitchen. Here the stream from the spring 

 passes the foundations of both the first and second halls, and 

 in the case of the first hall was carried into the fish-pond men- 

 tioned above. The stable and farm buildings of the second hall 

 were built on the lower ground on the opposite side of the road, 

 which would then" have been vacated by the disuse of the chapel 

 after the Reformation. These still exist, though much modified, 

 and we can well conceive what their quality must have been 

 when they were first built at the end of the sixteenth century. 

 They are of stone, and the front showed four five-light windows 

 on the ground floor with a door in the centre, and on either 

 side of it, on the upper floor, a five-light window surmounted by 

 a gable. The end gables of the building itself had moulded 

 copings finished off by moulded footstones. 



This building has been much altered from time to time, the 

 upper windows have been removed, only portions of their sills 

 being left to remind one of their existence, and the roof is 

 now plain; but enough remains to enable us to picture the 

 appearance of the whole when it left the hands of the builders 

 some three centuries ago. The inside of the stables, however, 

 except for the loss of the upper windows, which no doubt gave 

 light to the dormitories for the stable men, is much in the 

 same condition, save for age, as originally designed. A set of 

 stables on these lines, with a dormitory, or house part, attached, 

 although of smaller and plainer proportions and of later date, 

 can still be seen at Mellor Hall, in this county. 



