Listed Building: Fermyn Woods Hall, and attached stables and ancillary buildings (1189160)

Country house. Early/mid C17, altered and extended C18, and early and mid C19 for the Ladies Fitzpatrick and Lord Lyveden. C19 west wing demolished mid C20. Squared coursed limestone and limestone ashlar with Welsh and Colleyweston slate and C20 plain-tile roofs. Double-depth plan with stable courtyard attached. 2 storeys with attic. Entrance front of 5 bays each with gables. Bay to left of centre breaks forward as 2-storey porch, bay to right has small gable and flanking bays have larger gables. 3- and 4-light stone mullion windows to each gable, those at ground floor have transoms. Some attic windows may be C17, others are all C19. Similar windows in return wall of right hand gable. Porch doorway is C20 with ashlar surround. Ashlar gable parapets, kneelers and finials. Ashlar stacks at ridge and ends. Sundial above first floor porch window. 2-storey, 2-window range attached at right angles to far right, links with stables. Stone mullion windows to ground floor and single eaves dormer to first floor. Attic range of rear wing is visible above this range. Elevation to left of entrance front is a 2-window range of reset stone mullion windows. The former west wing was attached to this elevation. Rear elevation has 3 gables, that to left is taller and breaks forward. 3- and 4-light stone mullion windows, all similar to entrance front. Service wing attached to right was removed mid C20. Stables attached to right of entrance front are single storey with attic. C17 gatearch to right of entrance front was built for Sir Lewis Tresham and was reset, mid C19, from Lyveden Old Buildings, Aldwincle. Semi-circular arch flanked by niches with 3 shields above each niche. Moulded stone cornice and entablature surmounted by armorial device with elaborate supporting scrolls. C19 openwork balustrade links to 4-window range to left and gable end of range at right angles to right. Range to left, forming south side of courtyard has casement windows under stone lintels with keyblocks. 3 roof dormers. Ashlar gable parapet to right and hipped roof to left. Range at right angles to left links with entrance front of house, and forms west side of courtyard. 6 bays with doorway, to left of centre, having gable over. Two, 3-light, stone mullion windows to left and three similar 2-light windows, with transoms, to right. Rear elevation of this range, to the courtyard, has central projecting gable and is probably remains of C17 stables. Two 3-light stone mullion windows to right. C19 range to right of gatearch, forming east side of courtyard, is of 5 bays. Central carriage arch with gable over and gabled eaves dormers with 2-light stone mullion windows. Rear elevation has coach house door. C19 two-storey range, to north of courtyard, is former laundry with central lateral stack to courtyard elevation. Stone mullion windows to rear. Interior: entrance hall has mid C19 staircase with elaborately carved newels, all reset from west wing. Mid C19 tiled floor with armorial devices of Lyveden family. Sitting Room and Drawing Room, to left of entrance, have C18 style fireplaces. The house was probably originally a hunting lodge in the Rockingham Forest. It was owned by Sir John Robinson in the early C18 and passed to the Earls of Upper Ossery who added a late C18 west wing which was remodelled C19 and subsequently demolished. The house then passed to the Ladies Fitzpatrick and Lord Lyveden who carried out considerable C19 alterations. (Buildings of England: Northampton hire, p.216; Gotch, J.A., Squires Homes and Other Old Buildings of Northamptonshire, p.7; Northamptonshire Records Office, Architectural Drawings Collection).

Record last edited

Jun 5 2023 10:14AM