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Partney Hall
As you look towards the left from the corner of West Cross Street you will see a stone building dominating the corner of Traingate and Wesley Street. Although it doesn’t look very different from many of the other buildings in Kirton, this is one of the oldest dating from the 13th or 14th centuries.
The Hall
Although not a ‘hall’ in the grand sense, it is based on the medieval hall house plan and was originally called Partney Hall with references going back to at least the 1400s.
We don’t know for certain where the name Partney came from but there is a reference in the Lay Subsidy Rolls of 1332 to a tax payer living in Kirton with the surname de Partney. Maybe this provides a clue.
By 1577 it was owned by a gentleman farmer called Henry Gardiner and had substantial lands attached to it but, by 1679, these were gone and the building was in the ownership of the Dawber family and was known as Dawber’s Farm.
The building itself is largely unaltered apart from the external walls being extended to create an upper floor, a fireplace and the division of the house into rooms. It is now known as The Old Forge, reflecting a later usage, and is still a private residence.
From here cross the road and turn right up Traingate to the junction with Queen Street. Here you will find the Old Sunday School and Grandad’s Plough.