Riseborough Hall

 

Tradition points to Riseborough Hall being built around 1100 AD by monks.  Spring Wood lies to the south east and Hagg Wood to the north east.  Many trees were damaged in a storm on the 13th of February 1864. A very large cedar close to the Hall was lost.  In the Ings below the Hall is a sulphur spring, the story goes that a man once came to bottle and sell the water but all his stoppered water exploded!

 

The farm produced a lot of meat, especially in the days when Rosedale was full of ironstone miners. Another story tells of an officer of Cromwell's army who bought a horse from the Hall.  Cromwell himself passed close to the Hall with his model army during engagements with King Charles' forces.  The old wing has a rainwater head dating from 1644 but some of the fittings were earlier in style, suggesting that the builder was Sir Arthur Robinson, a London merchant who bought the property in 1632.  By the mid 19th century it was a tenanted farmhouse.  In 1878 the Robinsons sold the house to Thomas Harrison who replaced the older wing and added bay windows to the garden front.  It has been suggested that the Rowntree family lived there before their chocolate making fame.

 

The Hall was gutted by fire in 1952 whilst in the ownership of Mr and Mrs George Wynne Tweedie. Some local residents like Alan Smith, former landlord of the Sun Inn, vividly remember the day.  The contents of the house were unceremoniously dumped on the lawn to escape the smoke and fire engine water damage. It lay derelict and in danger of demolition until 1965.  GP, Dr Thomas Frank rescued it from the bulldozer and made part of it habitable.  Although he did not attempt period restoration he loved the property and stayed there until he died aged 91.

 

When the Hall was advertised for sale in 2003, 130 people made the journey to view. Developers wanted to turn the property into flats.  The current owners, Mark and Gill Chappell bought Riseborough Hall in 2004 and are in the middle of a large restoration project.  Mark and Gill moved from Arundel to their native Yorkshire.  They are the fifth owners in 400 years.  A seven bedroom home will be created by renovating the Victorian Hall, the ruined 17th century south-east wing and the derelict ballroom, which is a separate building accessed by a link to the main house.  The south-east wing might look as though it could fall down at any time but the walls are in fact a metre thick.  Local builder Barry Grice is working on the Hall.  The old heating system has been replaced, floors, damp-proofing and insulation installed.  The entrance and hallway have been given marble floors. Local craftsmen are making a solid oak staircase.  The original iron gates to the hall are still there.  Mrs Tweedie had them buried in the grounds during the Second World War to avoid them being melted down.  The house which once had 200 acres with it now has seven acres of land.

 

The house is said to be haunted by a lady in her fifties.  Some say that cars have stalled inexplicably when they pass the gates.  Gallows Head nearby was indeed the site of the gallows.  It is on the course of the roman road.

 

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