| Description | The Royd, Soyland (SE 03766 19944). Gentleman's house dated 1717.
'House, probably 1717 (date stone in garden wall), now subdivided. Hammer dressed stone, ashlar dressings, stone slate roof, Double pile. Quoins. 2 string courses, parapet and 2 ashlar stacks to ridge with one to right gable. 2 storeys and 11 irregularly spaced bays with doorway between 5th and 6th bays. The windows, formerly double chamfered cross windows, now lack mullions and transoms and have modern glazing. The ground floor windows in the 3rd and 8th bays are broken through to form doorways, but the original doorway has shouldered architrave and triangular pediment. The rear, which is similarly treated, has irregular fenestration of the same character with a similar doorway. In the south gable is one complete cross window'.
(English heritage listed building description. Date listed 16/07/1984. http://list.english heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1277095. Web site accessed 26/07/2013)
The Royd (House) was the subject of an archaeological assessment by Colum Giles in 1978 as part of the WYAS/RCHME Rural Houses Survey. The photographic images produced by the assessment are held by WYAAS (Giles, C. 1978. 'Soyland: The Royd'). The fieldwork report is transcribed below:
'This is a large stone house of the early 18th century. It was not investigated internally, and these few notes are recorded merely to demonstrate that by this age the house of a man of means might well abandon the earlier form and style of neighbouring house.
The structure is a large rectangular block approximately 97 feet by 41 feet. It faces east and is of two storeys. The east front is of 11 bays, with a centrally sited door. The door has an eared surround and a triangular pediment. The windows have been altered, but the original two light mullioned and transomed form survives in the south gable, A parapet of ashlar runs over the east front.
The house is double pile on plan. External appearances suggest that there are two original stacks, giving a large number of heated rooms. A through passage was retained, for the main east door has a counterpart on the west wall. There were probably four main rooms to the east, with a slightly off centre stair and service rooms to the rear. The date of this structure is suggested by a stone re used in the garden wall. This reads '1717 I H H' and refers to John Hoyle. In his will, dated 6th April, 1718, he describes himself as a 'gentleman'. If he did indeed build the Royd in 1717, he did not enjoy it for long, for he died in 1729.'
(Giles, C. (WYAS/RCHME). 1978. 'The Royd, Soyland').
A detailed history of 'The Royd' is provided by the Journal of the Halifax Antiquarian Society of 1916 ('The Royd in Soyland'. Pages 113 130). |