Greenhill Hall & James Bullock II [1580–1632]

The Bullocks of Greenhill

The Bullocks of Greenhill in the parish of Norton were descended from the Bullocks of Unstone.

John Bullock I of Greenhill [c.1500-1580] was the youngest son of Philip Bullock of Unstone [d.1541], and the father of John Bullock II of Darley and James Bullock I of Greenhill. His burial entry in the Norton parish register on 6 August 1580 clearly describes their relationship thus: “Johannes Bullocke de green in Grennell valde senex et pater Johes Bullocke de darley armigeri et Jacobi Bullocke de Grennell yoma” [very old man, father of John Bullock of Darley, bearer of a coat of arms, & James Bullock of Greenhill, yeoman].

John Bullock II [c.1539-1607] left Greenhill and went to London where he became a wealthy lawyer. He was able to purchase the Manor of Greenhill in 1573 and then the Darley Abbey estate at Derby in 1574. His younger brother, James Bullock I [c.1540-1598] remained at Greenhill. Their relationship was noted when James Bullock I was buried on 6 January 1597/98: the Norton parish register describes him as “Jacobus Bullocke de greene in Grennell, yeoman, frater Johis Bullocke de Darlye Armiger”. The kinship of James Bullock I of Greenhill to his successful elder brother was well known locally and proudly acknowledged.

The property in which the Bullocks of Greenhill lived is described as ‘of the green’ in 1557¹; as ‘de greene apud Grennell’ [of the green at Greenhill] in 1561²; ‘de green in Grennell’ in 1580 when John Bullock I was buried; and ‘de greene in Grennell’ in 1598 when James Bullock I was buried. Joseph Hunter notes that John Bullock I was ‘of Short Hall, which he held by lease under the Abbey of Beauchief dated 1533 for 21 years, also of the Green in Greenhill’.³

James Bullock II [1580-1632]

James Bullock II was baptized on 31 July 1580, the son and heir of James Bullock I and his second wife, Anna. The Norton parish register records that John Parker of Norton Lees Hall, gentleman, and Susanna Selioke of Haslebarrow Hall were his god-parents. James Bullock II was 18 years old when his father, James Bullock I, died in 1598. He married shortly before he reached the age of 21, when he inherited the Greenhill estate: the burial of his unnamed and unbaptized infant child is recorded on 12 December 1601. His son and heir, John Bullock was baptized on 6 January 1602/03, and a daughter, Barbara, on 13 September 1604. However, neither the family name of James Bullock II’s wife nor the date and place of their marriage can be traced. She was called Alice, according to her burial entry on 13 September 1604 when she had evidently died in childbirth.

On 1 July 1607 James Bullock II married for a second time. His bride was Anna Morewood, daughter of Rowland Morewood, gentleman, of Oaks in Bradfield. A daughter, Elizabeth Bullock, was baptized on 12 April 1608 and a son, Rowland Bullock, on 18 April 1609. A few months later, their mother, Anna Bullock died and was buried on 10 August 1609. It appears that James Bullock II spent several

years as a widower after Anna Bullock’s death. He married for a third time but, once again, the family name of his bride and the date and place of the marriage is unrecorded. They had a daughter, Pricilla, baptized 18 March 1618/19⁴. However, the burial of ‘Judeth Bullock uxor Jacobi Bullock de Beuchiefe generos’ is recorded in the Norton parish register on 1 July 1621. James Bullock II did not marry again. He died eleven years later and was buried on 5 November 1632, aged 52.

That he was called James Bullock of Beauchief, rather than of Greenhill, in the burial entry for his wife, Judith – as also in the entry for the baptism of his daughter, Pricilla, in 1619 and in a legal document of 1620 – calls for some explanation. The Bullock association with Beauchief Abbey, and the Strelley family which lived there, helps to throw light on the circumstances surrounding the construction of Greenhill Hall in the early years of the 17^th century.

Beauchief Abbey and the Strelley family

The Bullock family connection with Beauchief Abbey – a short distance from Greenhill – stemmed from the early 16^th century when the monks of the abbey had leased certain lands there in 1535-36 to Philip Bullock of Unstone for 31 years⁵. His son, John Bullock I of Greenhill, was noted as Bailiff and Collector of rents of properties previously held by Beauchief Abbey. On 10 April 1537, at the Dissolution, Beauchief Abbey was sold by the Crown to Sir Nicholas Strelley who later settled the estate on his second son, Nicholas Strelley [1535-1602]. He resided there in a house which would have been converted from the claustral buildings – as was normal practice at the time - and which may have incorporated the former abbot’s lodgings. An inventory taken on 29 December 1635, following the death of William Strelley, names 18 rooms in what was a very extensive property⁶. This dwelling remained the Strelley’s home until the new Beauchief Hall was built in 1670-71 some short distance away.

As near neighbours, the Bullocks would have been well aware of the Strelleys financial situation, and also their family circumstances. With the death of Nicholas Strelley in October 1602⁷, the estate passed to his eldest son, Gervase Strelley. Despite some involvement in lead smelting, and ownership of the tithes of Ecclesall, he was in financial difficulties. John Bullock II of Darley recognized this and saw the opportunity to acquire part of the Beauchief estate for the benefit of his son, John Bullock III, and by 31 January 1603 negotiations commenced. The resulting acquisition of 16 messuages and various lands in Moscar, Hutcliffe Wood and Strawberry Lee gave the Bullocks a considerable presence in the former Beauchief Abbey estate. Gervase Strelley, whose first wife had died by 1597, had no surviving male heir. He made a second marriage on 20 September 1603 to Dorothy Burnell of Winkburn in Nottinghamshire and, following the sale of Beauchief property to the Bullocks, he moved to live at Winkburn where the baptisms of his children, Elizabeth [bap.3 March 1604/5], Dorothy [bap.11 December 1606] and William [bap. 20 March 1607/8], his only surviving son and heir, are all registered. His own burial on 23 April 1608 – ‘Gervase Strelley de Becheff, armiger’ – is also recorded at Winkburn.

The dwelling at Beauchief would have continued to provide accommodation for Gervase Strelley’ s younger brothers, Anthony, Nicholas and John, and his sisters Gertude and Bridget with her husband Dennis Beresford⁸. Another sister, Jane Strelley, had married James Barley at Norton on 4 November 1591. Their eldest daughter, Rosamond, baptized 1 June 1594 married Henry Bullock of Brampton, who was first cousin to James Bullock of Greenhill, about the year 1614. Thus, the Bullocks could claim kinship with the Strelleys, a fact acknowledged in her will of 1665 by Goodeth Edmunds [nee Strelley], who was first cousin to Rosamond Bullock [nee Barley]⁹.

Although Gervase Strelley died in April 1608 his will was not proved in the probate court at Lichfield until 20 September 1609¹⁰. The actual will does not survive but it seems that provision had been made for James Bullock II of Greenhill to become guardian of Gervase Strelley’s only surviving son, William Strelley – aged just one month old when his father died.¹¹ Either James Bullock II of Greenhill or his cousin, John Bullock III of Darley, purchased the wardship of William Strelley¹² from the Crown. Apart from a period when the wardship appears to have been in the possession of a London goldsmith, Gabriel Barbor¹³, the Bullocks enjoyed the income from the remaining lands at Beauchief still in Strelley ownership¹⁴ until William Strelley came of age in 1629.¹⁵

In 1617 there had been an attempt by William Strelley’s step-father, Charles North, to forcibly take possession of the estate at Beauchief,¹⁶ but this had been successfully repulsed. However, in order to safeguard their interest, James Bullock II may have taken up residency at Beauchief in 1619 for a few years. The Norton parish register entry for the baptism of his daughter, Pricilla, on 19 March 1618/ 19 gives his place of residence as Greenhill but this has then been crossed out and ‘ beichei f’ inserted, in different ink by a different hand. A legal document of 11 April 1620 calls him ‘James

Bullock of Bewcheife, co. Derbys, gent.’¹⁷, and on 20 July 1620, the burial entry for his wife, Judith, records him as ‘Jacobi Bullock de Beuchiefe, generos.’ Of course, it may simply be that he was described as ‘of Beauchief’ because the estate there, which he held in wardship, was seen as more significant than his Greenhill lands. Once William Strelley came of age and gained possession of his Beauchief inheritance in 1629, James Bullock II reverted to being described as ‘of Greenhill’¹⁸. Nonetheless, James Bullock II’s association with Beauchief would appear to have extended over most of the 21 year period of William Strelley’s minority. His early involvement as William Strelley’s guardian gave him the opportunity to salvage building materials from the Beauchief Abbey ruins, notably what appears to have been a Gothic doorcase to serve as the main entrance, when he came to rebuild Greenhill Hall.

Greenhill Hall

Greenhill Hall was demolished in 1964, and during the demolition it became apparent that part of the property was far older than had been thought. What had been a traditional 3-bay timber-framed house – probably of the early-mid 16^th century - was remodelled in the first quarter of the 17^th century¹⁹. The early timber-framed parlour bay was replaced by a new stone-built wing containing two South-facing parlours, whilst the hall and kitchen were re-fronted in stone to match. Set upon a chamfered stone plinth, the new East-facing façade was characterized by mullion and transom windows with hood-moulds set centrally beneath a series of 3 gables. The main entrance appears to have been a re-used medieval arched doorway, with reeded mouldings displaying a slight ogee,²⁰ probably salvaged from the ruins of Beauchief Abbey nearby.

To the left of the entrance doorway a large 14-light window, distinguished by a hood-mould with label-stops – unlike the hood-moulds above all the other windows – marked out the position of the hall. Best seen in a photograph taken during the demolition process, this window retained some of

its original diamond-quarry glazing in its upper right-hand lights. The watercolour by Wainman Topham indicates that all the windows showed this glazing pattern in 1880. Perhaps a few years later, when this glazing was replaced by rectangular quarries, the hall window was reduced in size to conform to the others in this frontage.

The actual date of this new work at Greenhill Hall is not known, although the years 1619-20, when James Bullock II was seemingly resident at Beauchief [see above], could have been the time when these alterations at Greenhill Hall took place. However, this is to ignore the evidence of internal decorative features – both in plasterwork and carved woodwork – and a surprising conjunction of circumstances in 1609 which probably acted as the stimulus to the rebuilding of the house shortly thereafter.

In his will dated 18 April 1607, John Bullock II of Darley refers to his nephew, James Bullock II of Greenhill, as though he were one of his sons. This close kinship – and especially that with his cousin, John Bullock III – meant that when James Bullock II came to install the heraldic chimneypiece in the Oak Room at Greenhill Hall he proudly displayed his entitlement to bear the Bullock arms and crest granted in 1609, as well as his close kinship with his cousin John Bullock III who was Lord of the Manor of Greenhill. He also seemingly chose to incorporate decorative features in the overmantel which related to the merchant adventures of his cousins John Bullock III and Francis Bullock of London. John Bullock III was a member of the Second Virginia Company and is listed in the Charter of 23 May 1609²¹. The English settlers who formed the colony at Jamestown in 1609 were given ‘Turkie Wheate’ [ corn-on-the-cob] by the native Americans, and the ‘Turkie Wheate’ carved on the Greenhill Hall chimneypiece may well be an acknowledgement of this. Certainly, this early fascination with Virginia continued into the next generation where John Bullock III’s son, William Bullock [1617-1666], was the author of “ Virginia impartially examined”, published in 1649. The title page describes how ‘this piece is no other than the Adventurers or Planters faithful Steward,

disposing the Adventure for the best advantage, advising people of all degrees, from the highest Master to the meanest Servant, how suddenly to raise their fortunes’.

The columns which support the wooden chimneypiece are carved in the shape of palm trees [see below] – which may well be an acknowledgement of the fact that James Bullock II’s cousin Francis was involved with the East India Company, following the granting of its second charter on 31 May 1609. Francis Bullock’s apprentice, John Lant, made his will²² on 23 January 1611/12 when he was ‘bound e for the Easte Indies’. In addition, John Bullock III’s brother-in-law, Henry Fanshawe, was married to Elizabeth, sister of Sir Thomas Smythe, the 1^st Governor of the East India Company [1600 & 1603], who was also Treasurer of the Virginia Company [1609-1620].

The main clue to the dating of Greenhill Hall however, lies in the appearance of the Bullock family crest in the plasterwork ceiling of the Oak Room and this same crest carved above the Bullock coat of arms in the chimneypiece of that room. The crest of ‘a sheaf of seven bills enfiled with a mural crown gules’ was granted to James Bullock II’s cousin, John Bullock III of Darley on 20 June 1609. It appears, for the first time, on the tomb which John Bullock III raised to his father, John Bullock II, in St Alkmund’s church, Derby²³. So, the plasterwork ceiling and carved wooden chimneypiece of the Oak Room at Greenhill Hall could not have been created before this date. In addition, as there is no heraldic crest of the Morewood family [an oak tree] evident in the decorative work at Greenhill Hall, this would strongly suggest that it was created after the death of Anna Bullock [nee Morewood] in August 1609.

So, the year 1609 seems to have been a significant one for the Bullocks: Second Virginia Company; East India Company; the death of Anna Bullock [nee Moreland]; probate of Gervase Strelley’s will and appointment of James Bullock II as guardian of William Strelley; probate of John Bullock II’s will and likely date of the erection of his tomb in Derby; and the granting of the Bullock family crest. In 1611 at the Heralds’ Visitation of Derbyshire the Bullock crest was confirmed, and the arms displayed alongside the family tree: ‘Ermine, on a chief gules a label of five points or’, with a crescent to indicate descent from the second son. These arms and crest are carved not only on John Bullock II’s tomb in Derby but also on the Greenhill Hall overmantel.

The name of the craftsman who carved the overmantel is not known. However, a joiners’ workshop existed in Greenhill run by John Rose and his younger brother, Christopher Rose. John Rose died in 1615 and, although described as a carpenter, an inventory of his goods compiled on 17 April 1615 lists his workshop tools. These included ‘14 Joiner planes… turning tooles & other litle tooles’, from which it is apparent that he was involved in creating fine joinery work. James Bullock II of Greenhill Hall was not only the chief appraiser of his inventory, but was also godfather to his son, James Rose, baptized 19 September 1606. In his will of 1632, James Bullock II bequeathed twenty shillings to ‘James Rose my godson who is now lame’. From the evidence of this close relationship it would seem highly likely that John Rose, his brother Christopher – and their workshop team – were responsible for the woodwork at Greenhill Hall. If so, then the years 1609-1615 can be suggested as the period during which James Bullock II rebuilt and beautified Greenhill Hall²⁴.

Greenhill Hall: the Oak Room: carved woodwork

When Greenhill Hall was demolished in 1964, the carved oak chimneypiece from the Oak Room was acquired for Sheffield City Museums, and was placed on display at Bishops’ House in 1976. The panelling on the walls, together with the doors and their overdoors or crestings, was acquired by Maurice Goldstone of Bakewell, antiques dealer. His son, Michael Goldstone, sold this panelling to Sheffield City Museums in 1984, thus reuniting all the woodwork from that room.

The chimneypiece is a tour de force of the woodcarver’s art, and a veritable treasury of designs which are also found carved in other local woodwork. Structurally, the fireplace overmantel is supported by columns carved to resemble palm trees.

These may have been derived from illustrations of palm trees in Huighen van Linschoten’s ‘ His Discourse of Voyages unto ye Easte & West Indies’, printed at London by John Wolfe in 1598. William Cavendish, a friend of John Bullock III, is known to have purchased copies of this book in 1599, one of which he presented to his niece, Arbella Stuart²⁵. Columns with beaded surfaces, which feature on

the overmantel itself, may have been derived from another palm tree, used as an emblematic device, by John Wolfe the printer in 1584, on the title page of Nicolo Machiavelli’s Il Prencipe²⁶. Although there is no record of William Cavendish owning a copy of this book, the writhing snakes at the foot of the palm tree recall the knotted serpent crest of Cavendish. The beaded columns on the overmantel can also be seen on the Rotherham church pulpit [c.1604], with variants on the pulpits of Dronfield church and Chesterfield church; Norton House overmantel [1623]; and Bishops’ House overmantel [1655]. An overmantel in the ‘Ghost room’ at Bolling Hall, Bradford, has columns which are beaded along their lower half. No other instance of beaded columns is known.

One other illustration of a palm tree, which may have suggested the beaded columns, can be seen in Folio 72 of John Bossewell’s Workes of Armorie,²⁷ published in 1572. This particular book was evidently known to the carver since the mantling which surrounds the Bullock coat of arms appears to be closely copied from an illustration in Folio 109, whilst the helmet with daisy-wheel-hinged visor which supports the Bullock crest appears to be copied from an illustration in Folio 96. Other illustrations in this book found their way into the repertoire of ornament used to create decorative plasterwork by the Norton plasterers.

The overmantel consists of three horizontal units divided into three vertical tiers. The frieze panels in the top tier are set above a central armorial panel flanked by panels set with arcades which, in turn, are set above narrow panels of strapwork with applied human masks. The central frieze panel contains an elongated strapwork cartouche of high-quality carving which, in form, resembles those which contain the measurement scale drawn on architectural plans of the late 16^th century. Several architectural drawings by Robert Smythson, including an unattributed half-elevation of a design for a fireplace as well as the plan of a house in Lincolnshire for Lord Sheffield²⁸, show precisely such strapwork cartouches. The Norton joiners may have copied this detail from Smythson drawings prepared for the Bullock²⁹ or Cavendish family.

The two flanking frieze panels each contain a raised tablet carved with six rows of beadwork exactly like that carved on the columns and pilasters of the overmantel. Either side of the central strapwork cartouche are blocks, corresponding to the pilasters in the middle tier, carved with ‘Turkie Wheate’³⁰. This is possibly the earliest carved representation in England. At either end, corresponding to the beaded columns below, the stylized carvings may represent tobacco plants. The inner faces of all these blocks are carved with strapwork.

The middle tier of the overmantel consists of a central armorial panel between two arcaded panels: the arch on the left has an inner carving of laurel whilst that on the right is carved with olive. The outer arches are carved with stylized leaves and, in both panels, the arches rest on capitals with egg & dart ornament. Pilasters below these capitals are ornamented with oval paterae set within strapwork in two different designs, similar to the oval paterae in strapwork carved on the Rotherham church pulpit whilst, above, the spandrels are carved with conforming strapwork.

The central armorial panel is surrounded by a border with a scalloped outer ornament and an inner ornament of triple beads & lozenge – an almost incidental motif, but one which also appears around the arch of a chair, dated 1630, which can be firmly attributed to the Norton joiners³¹. The arms set on the shield are those of Bullock of Darley & Norton, derived from the arms of Bullock of Unstone, but with a crescent to indicate descent from the second son. Above the helm is the crest of 7 bills in a mural crown granted to John Bullock III in 1609. However, close scrutiny reveals that shrinkage of the whole panel at some point resulted in a vertical split, which has been repaired by inserting a thin sliver of wood, with attendant re-carving of the central field. This has resulted in there being 8 bills in the crest whilst the crescent re-set below the label on the shield is upside down. These discrepancies aside, the arms & crest replicate those on the memorial to John Bullock II [d.1607] in St. Alkmund’s church in Derby and those drawn at the Herald s’ Visitation to Chesterfield in 1611.

The bottom tier of the overmantel consists of three long strapwork panels set between blocks carved with strapwork which serve as pedestals to the beaded columns and pilasters above. The long strapwork panels to either side are carved with the same design, whilst the central panel features a triangle. This triangle became a recurrent motif of the Norton joiners and can be seen in the carved frieze at Bramley Grange [1637]; pews at Darfield church; and the Ellen Torr chest [1671]. It also appears in plasterwork at Holmesfield Hall. An example carved on an overmantel formerly in the collection of Rev. Reginald A Gatty³² is, however, the closest parallel to the panel on the Greenhill Hall chimneypiece.

All three panels have applied human masks mounted at their centres. The mask on the left hand panel is similar to another in plaster, formerly at Attercliffe Hall, but now refixed at Cartledge Hall. The man’s head mask on the central panel can be seen in plaster at Cartledge Hall, as can the lady’s head mask carved on the right hand panel. This lady’s head mask can also be seen on a plasterwork overmantel at Bishops’ House c.1655.

This appearance of the same motifs cast in plaster as well as carved in wood indicates the close relationship which existed between the joiners and plasterers in Norton in the early 17^th century. It may well be that the carved heads on the Greenhill Hall overmantel served as patterns around which moulds of glue and beeswax were formed, and from which the plaster versions were cast, as the scale and similarity of detail is so precise. Other early 17^th century strapwork panels, with blank circular reserves for applied masks, survive on a reconfigured oak overmantel at Stainborough Hall.

Two elaborate strapwork overdoors in the Oak Room at Greenhill Hall also display human heads carved at their centres. This form of overdoor can be seen sculpted in plasterwork at Hardwick Hall, but it is exceptionally rare to find such overdoors in more domestic dwellings.

From the evidence of photographs, however, these overdoors ill-fit their positions above the doorways shown: one – probably because of damage – now appears to be too short, whilst the other oversails the doorway. Both doorways have plain vertical planks set alongside the framed panelling, which seems to indicate that the panelling has been reconfigured at some stage. If so, then it seems likely that some of the distinctive flower-head pilasters of the room may originally have been positioned by the doorways, thus creating a more visually integrated effect when teamed up with the overdoors.

The flower-head pilasters, which were positioned at intervals between the sections of panelling, consist of a variety of stylized flowers set above close-set leaves carved either side of a central stem. From the evidence of photographs, the pilasters were positioned above plinths or pedestals also

carved with flower heads. The pilasters were crowned by capitals with scrolling volutes. Of the four surviving capitals, two are carved with egg & dart ornament and two with the bead & lozenge design which forms the inner border around the armorial panel of the chimneypiece. The flower-head pilasters are a significant local feature and occur elsewhere in the region at Stainborough Hall, Carbrook Hall [1623], Renishaw Hall [1625], Bramley Grange [1637], & Ecclesfield Priory. In addition, they served as supports to fireplaces at Norton House [1623] and Bishops’ House [1655], and on an overmantel from Mansion House Farm, removed to Oakes Park, Sheffield³³. Plasterwork versions exist on overmantels at Hallfield House, Bradfield Dale and another formerly to be seen at Washford Bridge, Attercliffe [1676].

Greenhill Hall: the Oak Room: decorative plasterwork

The decorative plasterwork ceiling of the Oak Room, and a square panel of plasterwork from the chamber above, were rescued when the house was demolished in 1964 and installed at Cartledge Hall, Holmesfield³⁴. There, one half of the Oak Room ceiling was used to make good a missing compartment of the parlour ceiling, whilst the other half was installed in the north bedroom, and the square panel fitted into the entrance lobby. During this process of removal and refixing an important observation was made: the enrichments in the ceiling had clearly been pre-cast and inserted as the ceiling had been constructed³⁵.

The Oak Room ceiling was divided into two panels by a spine beam ornamented on its soffit with a running design of bell-flower, as at Brampton Hall, Cartledge Hall, Attercliffe Hall and Unthank Hall. Around the walls, below the moulded cornice and above the oak panelling, was a foliate frieze with a repeat design of rabbits and beak-head terminals, as at Cartledge Hall, Broom Hall & Unthank Hall. At frieze height, on either side of the East facing window reveals, were casts of the Etruscan lady mask set on shields. The points of the shields were adorned with a triple hazelnut cluster - a favoured practice of the plasterers – which also features on a shield bearing a grotesque mask in the tympanum of the great chamber at Cartledge Hall. This hazelnut cluster also appears with scrolls as an ornament in the left-hand ceiling panel at Greenhill Hall.

The rectangular ceiling panel to the right of the fireplace extended into the ‘bay’ of the east window, in a ribwork design based on 3 circles linked by oval compartments – a design also employed at Brampton Hall. In both cases the central circle, divided into quarters, was filled with enrichments of the Bullock crest. Clearly, central prominence was proudly given to this newly acquired mark of status. Alongside, the compartments extending into the window ‘bay’ each contain knotted serpents – a device of Cavendish. The linking oval compartments in both of the ceiling panels are, in every case, filled by the same motif: a floral fleur-de-lis. This motif is precisely copied from an ornament used exclusively by the London printer, John Wolfe, on the title page of books published between the years 1582-1589³⁶. Other enrichments in this ceiling panel are from the familiar range of the Norton plasterers: marigold boss, grape-cluster branch, fleur-de-lis etc.

The design of the ceiling panel to the left of the fireplace is a familiar one which features a ribwork square whose sides are scalloped at their mid-points by intersecting oval panels: the design can be seen in a first-floor ceiling at Sheffield Manor, and could be seen at Attercliffe Hall. Far away, at Frithelstock in Devon, the Abbot family of plasterers drew a similar design in their pattern book. At Greenhill Hall the scallops are made by oval compartments set into each side of the square and, in turn, these oval compartments are linked with straight ribs to concave squares which occupy the centres of the larger squares. Alternate concave squares are filled with a grotesque mask which can be seen in several other places³⁷, copied from an engraved design by Cornelis Floris, 1555. This engraving was the source for the mask which features as the keystone to the arch above Lucrezia, in an embroidered & applique hanging made at Sheffield in 1573, and now at Hardwick Hall.

The central concave square contains a boss surrounded with a lozenge and bead collar – a motif seen in the carved woodwork – and a stud, familiar from the plasterwork at Attercliffe Hall, Brampton Hall, Dore Hall & Mayfield Old Hall, and in the carved woodwork of the Pillar Parlour at Bolsover Castle.

In the chamber over the great parlour at Greenhill Hall the ceiling was adorned with a square ribwork centrepiece, in the middle of which was a smaller ribwork square linked by radial ribs to the outer square. The four outer compartments, thus formed, featured 5-petal double-roses and a diamond-shaped strapwork enrichment which is virtually identical to a diamond strapwork design carved repeatedly in the panelling of the Pillar Parlour at Bolsover Castle. The small central square has, at its centre, a pyramid boss with 16-petal marigold sprigs radiating from each corner. This pyramidal boss can also be seen at Holmesfield Hall and Heathcote House, Chesterfield, and carved in the wooden strapwork frieze at Stainborough Hall.

There can be little doubt that the interior woodwork and decorative plasterwork installed for James Bullock at Greenhill Hall ranked as some of the finest work undertaken in the region in the early 17^th century. Taken together with Norton Hall and Brampton Old Hall, the Bullock family’s patronage of skilled plasterers and joiners set a trend which was eagerly followed by their friends and associates. Although the destruction of Greenhill Hall is to be regretted, it is fortunate that photographs survive showing the Oak Parlour in considerable detail. Remarkably, its plasterwork was saved and installed

at Cartledge Hall whilst the carved woodwork, comprising the chimneypiece, overdoors and panelling, now forms part of the collections in the care of Sheffield Museums.

David Bostwick · 25 September 2024