Ryal Farmhouse
Tockholes

Grade II

Date listed : 27 SEP 1984
Date of last amendment : 27 SEP 1984

 SD 62 SE 

Large farmhouse, C17, with some additions probably late C18. Sandstone rubble with quoins, tiled roof with gable copings and kneelers, double chimney stack on the ridge at the junction of the 1st and 2nd bays, a smaller chimney behind the ridge at the junction of the 2nd and 3rd. F-plan: 3 bays with projecting wingto the front of the 1st bay and projecting porch at the junction of the 2nd and 3rd bays, an added outshut to the front of the wing and filling the re-entrant, rear outshut to 3rd bay. Two and half storeys, presenting 2 gables to the front: gabled 2-storey porch with kneelers has a moulded round-headed doorway with rusticated voussoirs enclosed by a hoodmould, above this a recessed mullioned window of 3 round-headed lights with hollow spandrels and a hoodmould, and a blocked round-headed light in a chamfered surround in the gable. The 3rd bay has a simple doorway at ground floor; otherwise, all walls have original double-chamfered stone mullion windows with hoodmoulds, mostly unaltered: in the gable of the wing, 3 lights at 1st floor and 2 lights (blocked) above; in 3rd bay 3 lights at 1st floor; in the left return wall an altered ground floor window with hoodmould, a 2-light stairwindow, 2-light windows on each floor above, and 2 small windows; right return wall has at ground floor a blocked round-headed light and an altered window under one hoodmould, and blocked windows of 3 and 2 lights on each floor above (lower lacking one mullion). Rear has a lengthened king-mullioned window of 3+2 lights, a 2-light firewindow and a 4-light parlour window all under one hoodmould (stepped up over the first of these), and two 3-light windows at 1st floor (these all have glazing bars to small panes in the heads). The front outshut has remains of flush-mullioned multiple lights, and may have been a loomshop. Interior: in the housepart large chamfered beams with tongue stops, and over a former doorway at the lower end a lobed moulded plaster plaque lettered I.W E ( = John and Elizabeth Walmsley); 1676 in the parlour a stone fireplace with moulded Tudor-arched surround; off the parlour, enclosed by timber framing, a stone staircase which has ¼-turns to left and right; and in the chamber over the parlour a stone fireplace with an elaborately but crudely moulded plaster chimney piece including 2 angels. History: Ryal estate bought by William Walmsley, father of John, in 1660: house closely resembles Higher Hill farmhouse (q.v.), the home of John's brother Ralph.

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