17th November, 2017. Humberside large period houses (cont.) + personal reflection.

Until its demolition in 1936 Winestead Hall (also known as Red Hall, see picture) was a fine example of early Georgian architecture, a classical centre-entrance three-storey block. It was commissioned by the Hildyard family in the 1720s. The stable bock survives (the central clock tower just visible to the right of the house), this dated to the 1760s and designed by John Carr of York. This large stable block, like at Burton Constable, is built of brick. The 1980s ‘listing’ by Historic England defines the stable block as being part of a hospital but David Neave (The Buildings of England – York and the East Riding, 1994, 758) states that it is now (1994 not 2017) part of a special school.

Winestead, a small straggling village sited between Ottringham and Patrington in south Holderness, has another fine period house, White Hall, which survives as a family home and which retains many original features from the 1814 build. Partly visible from the road across pastureland some elements of the once landscaped grounds remain, this including two lodge cottages and a considerable stable block.

Just north-west of the site of Winstead Hall, in the parish of Halsham, stands the late 18th/early 19th round, stone-built mausoleum for the Constable family of Burton Constable. Once built the remains of earlier members of the family were removed from All Saints church, Halsham. Leading from the road to the mausoleum is a yew-lined path wide enough for a hearse. In the centre of the marble-lined interior is a well(?), around which, and under the floor, are the catacombs housing the human remains. I don’t think it is still in use.

Up to the age of  12/13 I was required to attend the village Methodist chapel in south-west Norfolk (see Richard S. Clarke in Publications). I never liked it and one had to be on best behaviour. As I sat rigidly through the sermons I could see through the top part of a lancet window edged by strips of stained glass. In spring and summer I could watch the cloudscape and the changing patterns. I don’t remember the content of a single sermon, but I remember the clouds. Dreamy-head or focussed – seemingly the former.

The chapel has for many years now been a private residence.