Of the architecture and character of the Hall little can be said, as
it was almost wholly rebuilt about forty years ago. According to a
manuscript history of Crosby written by Mr. George Gibson in 1801,
he says:--"In the time of the Pickerings it is said to have been a
building of stately dimensions in the form of a lofty tower; but this
ancient fabric being suffered to decay was totally taken down and
removed almost within memory," so that it may now be about 120 or 130
years ago. "The place was fortified with walls, ditches and ponds of
water, and numbers of beautiful sycamores were planted all round." If
this was the case, these trees must now be upwards of 260 years of age,
and are, according to the same author, of the same age as those around
Gaythorn Hall. Burn, in describing the Hall in his day, says:--"In
the entrance tower are two windows, one above the other, of no mean
workmanship; above the door are the letters I.D. for John Dodsworth,
who repaired the tower, and cut those letters in the old work. There is
a coat of arms, quarterly of eight, which seems to have been put up by
the Pickerings." This is now above the door of the present house, and
in the window above are some portions of stained glass with a coat of
arms, Lowther impaling Fleming. A great portion of the moat is still
to be seen; it encloses an area of an irregular oblong; the moat is
supplied with water by a spring at the north corner. The entrance, a
mantle tower and drawbridge were on the north side, next the Church,
where the moat is now completely levelled up. Within this outer moat
was another, immediately around the building, which is also still
partly traceable.
Associated with the Hall is a curious legend which has been handed
down in firm belief for two or three generations. The Hall was almost
nightly visited by what was called a dobbie, a supernatural being
which was no small terror to the inhabitants, and which made a great
excitement in the village at the time. Various accounts are given of
its form, sometimes a sheeted skeleton, sometimes a white bull, which
was wont to lick the window-panes at night; it chiefly frequented the
old tower, and when that was pulled down, it ceased its nightly walks;
but not till it disclosed to the old man of the Hall the whereabouts
of some hidden treasure, and also the exact time and manner of his
death, which, it is affirmed, happened accordingly. Another account
is that the old farmer had some hand in making away with the lawful
heir, and as a consequence was haunted by the apparition. This version
says nothing about the treasure; but his death was foretold, and when
it happened the dobbie also departed. The story is well told by Mr.
Whitehead, in his Westmorland Legends,--ending thus:--
Sometimes it lick'd the window pane,
In shap of a girt white bull;
Sometimes it shak'd the mantle tower,
Sometimes it towl'd the bell:
And thus it carried on for years,
To think on't maks yan whidder,
Till't auld man cock'd his teas--an' than
They beaythe went off togidder.
[Illustration: THE DOBBIE OF CROSBY HALL.]