Building record 1160/225/1 - No.33 Mare Fair, Hazelrigg House (formerly Cromwell House)

Stone house of two and a half storeys, built in the first half of the 17th century. A rear wing was added in the early 18th century and a further addition was built in the angle between the main range and wing in the 19th century. The street frontage has been heavily restored since the Second World War. The building is of squared rubble and ashlar, the roof is tiled with three stone coped semi-circular gables, each with three finials. The building was one of the few to survive the fire of September 1675. Oliver Cromwell is supposed to have stayed at the house the night before the battle of Naseby.

{1} 1662, one of the few houses to escape the fire of September 1675, when only a part was destroyed. Squared rubble and ashlar. Tiled roof with 3 stone coped semi-circular gables, each with 3 finials. 2 storeys and attics. 2 and 3 light diamond lattice stone mullioned casement windows. Top floor gables, projecting on stone corbels, have triple light similar windows. Recessed architrave surround to left central doorway. Hasilrigg House on Ordnance Survey map. Nos 33 to 43 (odd) and 37a form a group with St Peter's Church and Nos 1 to 3 Black Lion Hill.

{2} Built 1662 one of few buildings to escape Great Fire of 1675; partly destroyed; squared rubble & ashlar; tiled roof; two storeys & attics; stone mullioned casement windows;

{4} Demolition of adjacent buildings during 1977 allowed observations to be made on structure and development of Hazelrigg House.The building can be dated to the first half of the 16th century. It would therefore appear that the building was built during the reign of Henry VIII as a town house of two and a half storeys. In the following century the building underwent considerable alterations involving the construction of a large rear addition and the remodelling of the front elevation. Unfortunatly the stone used has not worn well and all the features apart from the doorway and two stone-mullioned windows have been renew over the last century. The division of the house into three separate dwellings took place when the historian Baker took possession of the premises in the early part of the eighteen hundreds. The demolition of nos 27 and 29 confirmed Sir Henry Dryden's note that the building had extended to the east of the present strucutre by 46ft 2 in as the party wall beween these two buildings proved to be the original gable. In its original form the buildng was approximately 91 ft long - a considerable size for a town house of any period.Demolition of no 31 provided good dating evidence - origins of Hazelrigg House appear to predate Welsh House by at least half a century. Hidden beneath 19th century plasterwork was the original ground floor ceiling which consisted of heavily moulded beams approx 11in by 11 half inch spanning between the front and rear walls. Identical beams running parallel to the front wall were tenoned into the main beams half way along their length and similarly moulded beams formed cornices to the walls. These effectively divided the ceiling into large squares. Smaller chamfered and stoped joists ran between the central longitudinal beams and cornice beams. Wooden bosses of unknown design occurred at the junction of the main beams.

{5} It is thought that the house was first built in the late 15th or early 16th century. It has a cellar and roof timbers to substantiate this claim and there is also the lintel of a blocked medieval window visible in the rear wall of the building. It is known that John Reading had owned the house before 1680. Reading was probably responsible for creating the present façade of the house with its dormer windows on carved corbels and stone mullioned windows. Even the fine staircase, with its barley-sugar turned wood balusters, may have been put in by himOwnership passed to Robert Hazelrigg in 1680, but the family may have leased the house prior to this. Robert Hazelrigg added further property to the house to create an estate at the western end of the town. The connection with the Hazelrigg family lasted throughout the 18th century until 1819 when in was acquired by Rev John Stoddard who ran the house as a boarding house for students. George Baker (antiquarian) acquired the house in 1831 and disposed of much of the estate including half the house. The left hand wing, number 31 Marefair was given a rendered frontage and became a separate dwelling. This part was demolished in 1978, taking with it the best remaining timber ceiling and destroying the symmetry of the façade.In this century the house became offices and was "restored" and upgraded for present day use in 1988.

{7} Documentary search based on Northampton's oldest surviving secular building.

{8} Internal photographs (contact sheet);

{10} Two photos dated 1990;

{11} Notes, measurements, sketches, map "survey of the Hesilrige property 1743";

{12} Photo dated 23rd February 1956;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 3/13 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> 1976, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), H14 p.99 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN1000.

<3> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, (unchecked) (Archive). SNN115.

<4> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1978, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1977, p.191 (checked) (Journal). SNN2192.

<5> GRAY R., 1993, Hazelrigg House, (checked) (Notes). SNN45671.

<7> Welsh T., 2011, Document Search: Hazelrig House, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN107884.

<8> Various, Various, Photographs of buildings in Northampton (Photographs). SNN111320.

<9> Historic England, Undated, CROMWELL HOUSE, HAZELERIGG MANSION (F), 33 MARE FAIR, NORTHAMPTON, BF036473 (Archive). SNN113953.

<10> Photographs of buildings in Northampton (Photographs). SNN114989.

<11> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/198/713,702 (Archive). SNN115.

<12> Miss June Swann, 1960s- 70s, Miss June Swann Photographic Archive (Photographs). SNN116665.

Record last edited

Apr 2 2025 2:34PM