


The house known as Thorne Old Hall stood until pulled down in 1860. Built partly of brick and stone, it had a cabled-hip roof with a low ornamental porch over the latter were thought to be the arms of Edward Steer and with the initials E.S. and a date of 1573. The Steer coat-of-arms consisted of three goats heads and a chevron on a shield.
The building became debased by the lowest uses after the family left the Hall. It became a poor house, for want of a better name, also a grog shop called the 'Blazing Stump' before decay and neglect to the house resulted in its destruction after almost 300 years.
It is a matter of regret that a house with the connections with the Vermuyden's work partners and family in Thorne should have come to be demolished and the stone taken away for other building work. Some of the stone-part of a mullion was left on the site after the demolition. Other pieces - two arches and lintels - were taken to Maples Gardens, Thorne.

It was at one time known by local boys as `Dickie Fisher's Orchard'.
The man seen for many years scything the grass in the orchard was known as Harry 'Cuckoo' Holgate.
The area of The Hall and Pinfold faced the bank on the now Pinfold Lane and Queens Street with a footpath that is not Whites Lane but a separate one that is now hard to find. On the 1850 O.S. map of the area, it leads to Foredales Road.

-- F Dallas