Shibden Hall, Halifax - BIM00449

The late Middle Ages witnessed the growing prosperity of the upper Calder valley as a result of a major expansion of the cloth trade, and this prosperity is reflected in a number of surviving domestic buildings from this period, though the medieval timber structures became transformed during the 17th century through the addition of stone cladding. A good example of this evolutionary process is Shibden Hall, originally constructed as a timber-framed H-plan building, comprising a single-storey hall (or housebody) and two cross-wings, and dating back to the late 15th century. Although the core of the original house still remains, in the 16th century the building was extended at the rear and the south wall of the housebody was re-positioned. In the following century the building was partially encased in stone, and in the 1830s was radically altered by one of its owners, Anne Lister, who attempted to create a gothic hall by adding a pseudo-Norman tower and a new servants’ wing.

In its early years Shibden Hall was associated with the Oates family, though by the 17th century it had passed via the Saviles and the Waterhouses to the Lister family, who retained it until 1933 when it became the property of Halifax Corporation. The hall now houses fine collections of 17th and 18th century furniture and, together with the original farm buildings and 17th century barn, forms part of a folk museum which attempts to recreate an early 19th century village centre.

Text from: Calderdale Architecture and History.

Bill Marsden

PHDA - Bill Marsden Collection

Pennine Horizons Digital Archive

BIM00449.tif