Elmswell Old Hall
The old Hall dates back to around 1635 and is part of the historically significant Elmswell country estate near Driffield. It is part of an estate that can be directly traced back to William the Conqueror.
There are records of who made the bricks and which field they were built in. In 1998 English Heritage increased the Old Hall’s status from Grade II to Grade II* listed – meaning it is officially “of more than special interest”.
Only just over five per cent of the nation’s listed buildings fall into this category.
Of particular note are the house’s links with a 17th century agricultural diarist, Henry Best, and the fact that it was one of the first brick buildings in East Yorkshire.
Our works here included a consolidation of freestanding brick ruin.
The roof had collapsed in the 1970s allowing the walls to be destabilised by waterwash.
We had to rebuild large sections of the wall copying the original running bond as the bricks were of different lengths. As part of a team we were able to have input into the working methods as the contract unfolded. Large vertical steel posts were crane lifted in including cross ties to stop racking of the building.
We had to remove in stages a support scaffold that had been put up in the 1970s by Driffield council.
Emergency stabilisation had to be done from a cherry picker firstly and the scaffold removed in a sequential programme.
An interesting find
This brick was found in the original wall whilst carrying out the work. The print is that of a fox which must have stepped in the wet clay brick whilst out in the field air drying before firing in a field kiln. The estate have records of where the clay was dug and who made the bricks back in the 1600s.
