Paull Holme Tower

Details

PAULL THORNGUMBALD ROAD TA 12 SE (south side, off) Paull Holme 6/9 Paull Holme Tower

- I Tower house. Mid-late C15 for Holme family. Restorations of 1871 for Colonel Bryn Holme. Banded red and blue brick in English bond (original sections with blue brick header courses). Some limestone ashlar dressings, otherwise of moulded brick. Rectangular on plan. 3 stages, marked by external chamfered brick set-backs with ashlar blocks at angles. 2 storeys with basement and parapet wall walk. First stage. South side has 4- centred-arched entrance of 2 hollow-chamfered orders with internal portcullis slot, and narrow blocked pointed door to right. West side has narrow window with chamfered segmental-pointed reveal, and blocked opening to right with inserted timber lintel. North side has damaged square-headed opening to left, perhaps inserted. East side has narrow chamfered segmental-pointed window. Second stage. South side has blocked doorway to right with mutilated head and inserted timber lintel, small blocked square opening to left. West side has central opening, blocked below, with inserted (probably C19) pointed ashlar 2-light window with foiled Y-tracery, moulded mullions and reveal, beneath fragmentary hoodmould; rectangular recessed panel above with ashlar head and chamfered brick reveal, containing ashlar relief tablet bearing tilted shield with arms of Holme quartered with those of Wasteneys, flanked by 3 roses. North side has narrow chamfered segmental-pointed window with square-headed loop to left. East side has 4- centred-arch window with chamfered reveal, and inserted square-headed 2- light ashlar window to right with chamfered mullion and reveal. Third stage. South side has blocked twin segmental-pointed window with roll- moulded reveal beneath triangular-headed tile hoodmoulds. West side has similar central window. North side has similar window but with chamfered reveals. East side has central door with damaged sill and arched head, with small blocked chamfered segmental-pointed window to left. Chamfered brick corbels carrying projecting parapet, originally embattled, now ruinous, with single ridge-coped merlon standing on east side. Interior. Elliptical barrel-vaulted basement: south side has pair of arched recesses, one with a chamfered arch; west side has pair of chamfered arched recesses, one with stepped reveal to blocked inserted opening, the other with window in hollow chamfered reveal; north side has fireplace with damaged arch and chamfered arched reveal to damaged opening; east side has arched recesses to garderobe and to window in hollow chamfered reveal, and segmental-arched door to mural staircase in east wall. Staircase has stone treads, tunnel vault, splayed reveal to blocked outer door at foot, stepped reveal to blocked side window. First floor: south side has flattened triangular-headed chamfered fireplace flanked by single-arched recesses, arched doorway to corner lobby at foot of upper stairs to left, with blocked 4-centred-arched door in outer wall; west side has a full-width tripartite recess, the damaged central chamfered arched section (containing the 2-light ashlar window) flanked by low side recesses; north side has pair of arched recesses and arched stepped reveal to window; east side has a 4-centred-arched door to the lower staircase, a doorway to left beneath an inserted timber lintel, into an L-shaped mural chamber with loop in splayed reveal and garderobe with window and ashlar- lined hatch, and a slightly-recessed section to right with a segmental- pointed doorway to upper mural staircase and projecting section of wall above carried on 3 chamfered corbels. Mural staircase in east wall has blocked window and damaged outer opening at second floor landing. Floor missing. Original features on second floor partly obscured by C19 plaster. South side has traces of blocked segmental openings, probably recesses and window reveal; west side has central arched recess with stepped window reveal flanked by tall narrow arched recesses; north side, with C19 patching, has wide recess and small square recess; east side has damaged door to landing. Recesses throughout have either segmental or segmental- pointed arches. East mural staircase continues to ruinous parapet and wall walk. Section of low arched inner' recess to south side. The tower formed part of a larger moated house, and was probably attached at the north end of a hall block. The arms on the west face post-date the marriage in 1438 of Elizabeth Wasteneys and John Holme, for whom it may have been built. One of the most important medieval brick buildings in the Humberside-Yorkshire area, suffering seriously from neglect at time of resurvey. Scheduled Ancient Monument, County Number 199. G Poulson, The History and Antiquities of Holderness, 1841, p 493; P F Ryder, Medieval Buildings of Yorkshire, 1982, pp 116-7; P F Ryder and S Coleman, "Paull Holme Tower", East Riding Archaeologist, vol 7, 1983, pp 85-90; Victoria County History: York, East Riding, vol 5, p 116. Photographs in National Monuments Record.

Listing NGR: TA1852224881

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

166654

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Allison, K J, The Victoria History of the County of York: East Riding, (1984), 116
Ryder, J, Medieval Buildings of Yorkshire, (1982), 116-117
Poulson, G, The History and Antiquities of Holderness, (1840), 493
East Riding Archaeologist in East Riding Archaeologist, Vol. 7, (1983), 85-90

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