Stella Woods, boundary walls

Part of the original walls of the Stella Estate (HER 5245). These sandstone boundary walls were originally the Park Walls for Stella Hall, as depicted on an 18th century map. There were apparently 2 sets of walls enclosing the estate – these surrounding the private, polite, landscaped core, enfolding the hall and the other central estate buildings, and those surrounding the outer part of the estate. As could be expected, they have been repaired many times over the centuries, with some sections rebuilt, and others collapsing, some sections in dressed, coursed stone and others more rubble in quality. The walls are very high in places (perhaps 2.5 to 3 metres), demonstrating the importance of privacy and security to the early families living here (perhaps the Widdringtons during the early 18th century) The sections of dressed stone indicate significant wealth, as this would have cost a great deal, and would therefore normally be reserved for buildings. Although they have been compromised in many places, with breaches and sections that have been reduced in height, their grandeur, and the evocative impression they create as they are stumbled upon in the woods, makes them significant in terms of physical impact, as well as their significance as an historic boundary and as a surviving element of the once-important Stella Hall Estate. MATERIALS Sandstone DATES c1700? LOCAL LIST