Listed Building: Litchborough Hall (6/113)

Country House. C17 and C18, remodelled and extended in 1838 by George Moore in Tudor style for William Grant (design exhibited Royal Academy). Ironstone ashlar and coursed squared ironstone with ironstone dressings; slate roof; stone end, ridge and lateral stacks. Double-depth plan. 2 storeys and attic; 3-window range. Entrance front has central double-leaf glazed doors with hollow-chamfered Tudor-arched stone surround with carved spandrels, in gabled porch with similar doorway and hood mould. Porch flanked by 3-light hollow-chamfered stone mullion windows with hood moulds. Similar 2-light windows to 1st floor. Plinth, hollow-chamfered string courses at 1st and 2nd floor levels, tall stone-coped parapet broken by 3 segmental-headed dormers with ball finials. Garden front has 4-bay centre with 12-pane sash windows to ground and 1st floors with chamfered stone surrounds, stone lintels and key-blocks, hood moulds to ground floor, single long continuous hood mould to 1st floor windows. The centre is flanked by gabled wings which break forward slightly, that to right late C19. Both have single-storey canted bay windows with plain stone-coped parapets displaying Grant coat of arms, 2-light stone mullion and transom windows to 1st floor and 1-light gable windows with hood moulds. Plinth, string course at 2nd floor level, stepped above 1st floor windows of wings, and 2 segmental-headed gabled dormers to centre. 2-storey service wing breaks forward to left of entrance front and has central blank door and 1st floor window with flat-arched heads and key blocks, flanked by 3-light stone mullion and transom windows to ground floor and 2-light chamfered stone mullion windows to 1st floor, all with hood mould; quoins and chamfered stone eaves. Later cross wing to left has 3-light chamfered stone mullion window to ground floor, similar 2-light window to 1st floor and 1-light window to gable, all with hood moulds; chamfered plinth, lateral stack to left of gable, stone-coped gable with kneelers and diagonal buttress to left angle. Single-storey link to left joins service wing to C17 range, formerly separate house. The latter has L-plan. 2 storeys and attic; 2-window range. Old plank door with fleur-de-lis hinges, hollow-chamfered stone surround with Tudor-arched head, carved spandrels with roses and hood mould. 4-light ovolo-moulded stone mullion window to ground floor centre, 1-light window to ground floor right with chamfered stone surround, 3-light ovolo-moulded stone million windows to 1st floor with hood moulds, and similar 2- light windows to gabled dormers above. Quoins, stone-coped gables with kneelers and square stone flues to stone end stacks. Old leaded casement windows to rear. Interior: Hall has ribbed plaster ceiling and bolection-moulded black marble fireplace. Re-used mid C18 open well staircase with column-on-vase balusters, fluted Doric column newels, dado and circular skylight. Drawing Room has moulded cornice with vine leaves and grapes and Tudor ceiling rose. Dining Room has wood ribbed ceiling and Jacobean style wood fireplace surround with re-used Jacobean columns and panels. (Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, 1973, p.292; H.Colvin "Dictionary of British Architects" 2nd Ed, 1978, p.557).

Record last edited

Oct 30 2012 11:51AM