Empty promise

Lucy Denton asks why we have so many uninhabited dwellings and what we can do to save them

- Lucy Denton

ASSEMBLED as a gentry hall house on an upland spot near Briercliffe in Lancashire, Extwistle Hall is a striking model of the sturdy sandstone-built houses that appeared in the north of England in the 16th century. Its mullions—some with ogee moulding—large hall window and arched fireplace were typical of the manner of building styles of the period, with a cross wing, charmingly irregular roofline and a smattering of ball finials—a handsome home, surely, in this exposed moorland setting. It is empty and in ruins, picked at by vandals and frequently saturated by rain, now that the slate has been stolen and most of the windows punched out. Extwistle Hall, vacant for the past 20 years, is one of numerous stricken dwellings that should be put to good use, but which is a casualty of various factors that contribute to lack of occupation and, ultimately, dereliction.