SCOUT HALL

Scout Hall (also known as Scote Hall) at Shibden near Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, was built in 1681 for John Mitchell (1659–1696), who had inherited great wealth as a silk merchant. Mitchell was castigated by the preacher Oliver Heywood for his dissolute way of life, spending his money on horse racing and drink. The house is a 'calendar' building, supposedly of 12 bays, with 52 doors and 365 panes of glass. It is Grade II* listed but is on the English Heritage 'buildings at risk' list.
The standing "Scout Hall" was built on the site of several preceding ancestral homes of the Stancliff(e) family, the Otes, Savile and Waterhouse families, (Mitchell's wife was a Stancliff(e)) also named "Scout Hall" dating back several centuries. The name Stancliffe, or Stanclift comes from the Old German/Old English for stone cliff. The large homes named Scout Hall were all built near the base of a large stone cliff and a quarry from which the building stones were harvested.