Building record 2920/2/1 - Deene Hall

Deene Hall, largely 16th century country house constructed on the site of a Medieval grange of Westminster Abbey. 14th century origins, altered in the 15th century, land bought in 1514 and Great Hall begun 1571 for Sir Edmund Brudenell. 16th century to late 19th century works for Brudenell family who were Earls of Cardigan. Modified late 20th century.

{1} Country house. C14 origins, C15, Great Hall begun 1571 for Sir Edmund Brudenell, C16 to late C19 works for Brudenell family who were Earls of Cardigan. Modified late C20. Limestone ashlar with Collyweston slate and lead roofs. Complex plan with courtyard. 2 storeys with attic. Entrance Front, to north, probably of the early 1660's, is a 5-window range, to first floor. Central gateway, with shallow 2-centred arch-head, has moulded stone surround and a pair of panelled doors. Tall 2-light stone mullion windows with transoms, at first floor, originally lit the long gallery. Corresponding windows to ground floor are 2-light with stone mullion, all with leaded lights. Chamfered plinth and moulded string courses, at head of ground floor windows, and cill and head of first floor windows. Flat roof, behind castellated parapet, with 2 lateral ashlar stacks rising from the parapet. Bay to far right has hipped roof of the west range of the courtyard, with 2 hipped dormers. 5 lead rainwater pipes and hopper heads, between bays, and armorial device above gateway. 5-window range, set back to right, is probably C17 with 2-light stone mullion windows, with transoms. Gabled roof behind plain parapet. Early C17 tower of 4 stages is set back to left of Entrance Front and forms part of the East Front. Each stage is subdivided by a narrow band between string courses; the upper band has armorial shields. This face has 2-light stone mullion windows to right of each stage. Flat roof behind castellated parapet. The tower was originally part of the north wing which was shortened. East Front, to left of Entrance Front, is irregular with the north-east tower to the far right. Each stage has central, 5-light, stone mullion windows with transoms. Attached to the left of the tower is an irregular 3-bay range which was the great hall of the C15 house; now subdivided. Flanking bays have 3-light stone mullion windows with transoms and C17 attic gablets, with 2-light stone mullion windows. To the left of centre is a plain square stair turret with a small square window at attic level. 2 armorial shields below and one similar at mid-point. This stair may have related to the chapel which projected to the left of it until mid C18. The centre of this range has a fine Renaissance bay window, of 2 storeys, possibly reset. Each floor has an 8-light window with transom; the lights are arranged in pairs and the mullion formed by alternate broad and narrow, fluted, Ionic columns. The Ionic capitals form part of the frieze and the panels above and below the windows have strapwork cartouches. Above the window is a truncated ogee gable which abuts the attic storey of this range. Within the gable is a 3-light stone mullion window and a rosette above. Within the decoration are the initials of Sir Edmund Brudenell and Agnes his wife who died in 1572. All the windows are blocked, with the exception of 2 lights, at the ground floor, which were opened late C20. Above is a large ashlar stack. The gabled roof has ashlar parapets. The 2-storey one-window range, attached to the left, has a 6-light stone mullion window, with transom, to each floor. The ground floor window has been modified C20. Behind the castellated parapet is a flat roof with the gable of the Great Hall behind. A C16 two-storey, 2-window range breaks forward to the left of this range and forms part of the South Front range. 4-light stone mullion windows, with King mullions, to ground and first floor right. 2 small oval windows and an armorial shield to the centre. Chamfered plinth and moulded string courses between window heads. Flat roof with castellated parapet, Octagonal turret, to left, forms part of the South Front. The South Front consists of 2 main ranges. To the right is a C16 eight-window range, probably incorporating part of the Solar of the original hall. Early C19 two-light wood mullion windows, with arch-head lights, are arranged in pairs, with 2-stage buttresses between each pair. These windows replaced C18 sashes. Chamfered plinth and moulded string courses between window heads. Flat roof behind castellated ashlar parapet. At the ends of this range are castellated octagonal turrets, with windows in the south-east and south-west faces. The turret to the left is highest and forms part of the range to the left of the South Front. This is an 8-window range, of 1800-10, in Neo-Tudor style. The windows are similar to the right range, with transoms. They are arranged from left to right, 3:3:2, with continuous 4-stage gabled buttresses between each group. Some of the ground floor windows have French doors. Flat roof behind castellated parapet and octagonal castellated turrets at ends of range. A ballroom range, added by Seventh Earl of Cardigan in 1865, to the west of the South Front was demolished late C20. The West Front which now incorporates the service ranges, is irregular, in similar style to the other facades. A laundry was demolished in 1968. The original entrance to the medieval house was from the west. The north elevation of the main courtyard is of the C16 Great Hall. A 2-storey porch, to right of centre, has an outer doorway with semi-circular nead. Foliated spandrels are flanked by Ionic pilasters decorated with linked oblongs and ovals. Frieze above is decorated with scrolls and mermaids supporting the arms of Brudenell and Bussy. The upper storey has a 3-light stone mullion window, with arch-head lights, flanked by Corinthian pilasters. One set of pilasters repeats on the return walls. To the left of the porch, and centre of the hall, is a 4-light stone mullion window, with arch-head lights and transom. Tall bay-window in corner to left, is similar, with 6 lights and 2 transoms. Gabled roof, with ashlar parapets, is set behind eaves parapet, with merlons. Bay to right of porch has similar stone mullion window and parapet. The west elevation of the main courtyard is of the original hall and has a large central canted bay-window of 6 arch-head lights, with stone mullions and 3 transoms. The window has been subdivided and the second stage is now blank. To the left is a 2-window range, and to the right a one-window range, of similar 2-light windows. 4 eaves dormers have similar windows. Gabled roof with ashlar parapets. The east elevation of the main courtyard is a 4-window range of stone mullion windows with a similar attic storey to that of the west elevation. The south elevation of the main courtyard is similar to the main Entrance Front with a large sundial to the first floor, centre. The courtyard elevations have the remains of lead rainwater pipes and hopper heads. Interior: Great Hall entered at west end from porch in main courtyard. The original panelling remains at the east end, only, and is divided into 5 sections by Doric pilasters. Above is an armorial plaque flanked by caryatids and volutes. Fine ashlar fireplace and overmantle, with pairs of pilasters and armorial devices, is dated 1571 and was reset from the billiards room in 1966. Fine original roof structure, with alternating double and single hammerbeams, pendants and ogee wind-braces, all in Sweet Chestnut. The windows have early C17 armorial glass, restored in 1959. The Billiards Room, on the east side of the main courtyard, is the ground floor of the original hall. Reset C17 fireplace with chimney breast backing onto the Renaissance bay window, on the East Front. Evidence of a C13/C14 archway discovered in this room. Early C18 moulded ceiling beams. The principal stair, to the east of the Great Hall, has a simple geometrical openwork balustrade of the early C17, it is possible that this may be reset. The Chapel Parlour between the stair and the billiards room has reset C17 panelling. The Chapel, to the east of the stair, was created in 1971 from a room used as a loggia in C17. The Garden Room to the south of the Chapel has some reset C17 panelling, other is C20. The Oak Parlour to the south of the Great Hall has reset C17 panelling with fluted pilasters and a frieze. The Bow Room, adjacent to the west, is in the early Cl9 south front and has a bowed east wall with built in bookcases and marble fireplace. The Drawing Room, adjacent to the west, is of the same period with double panelled doors at either end. Dado rail, moulded cornice and marble fireplace with Rococo style details. The Dining Roan adjacent to the west, is also similar with a laurel wreath frieze and reset C19 fireplace, with attached veined marble columns. The Ante-Hall to the west of the Great Hall ties a dentilled cornice, covered ceiling and reset marble fireplace. The White Hall to west of the Ante Hall was created early C19 as a staircase to the South Front (and the rooms at a lower level to the north. Lattice ironwork balustrade, with Fifth Earl of Cardigan's arms, around an open well. Moulded frieze and dentilled cornice. The Tapestry Room, at first floor over the Billiards Room, has a C16 fireplace surround with a C17 bolection moulded inset. Fine Jacobean plaster ceiling with pendants. Above this room is trio roof structure of the original ball which is noted as having C15 collar beams on arched braces. The Tower Room, adjacent, in the north-west tower, has a C17 fireplace with a heraldic overmantle and a Jacobean plaster ceiling, also with heraldic emblems, restored C20. King Henry's Room to the first floor of the south-east corner has linenfold panelling; with single and double folds, fireplace with 4-centred arch-head and heraldic panel above. The Dane commemorates a supposed visit of Henry VII on the eve of Bosworth Field, in 1485. The Long Gallery, now subdivided, is noted as having a large C17 fireplace. Deene was acquired in 1514 by Sir Robert Brudenell, at which time the Great Hall was most likely in the east range, his grandson Edmund built the present Great Hall. In 1643 the house was plundered by Cromwell's troops and in 1661 Charles II created Sir Thomas Brudenell First Earl of Cardigan. The house was further developed and remodelled internally by the Earls of Cardigan. Sometime after mid C18 a Service Wing to the south was removed. The Fifth Earl of Cardigan was responsible for remodelling and extending the present South Front. Deene Hall was also home of the Seventh Earl of Cardigan, hero of Balaclava. (The gardens of Deene Hall are listed Grade II in the HBMCE County Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England; Buildings of England: Northamptonshire: p178) Country Life: February 13 1909, Cornforth J, Country Life March l1, 1976, p610-613, March 18, 1976., p674-677,March 25, 1976, p750-753,April 1, 1976, p810-813; Deene Hall Guide Book; Northamptonshire Records Office - Cartagraphical Collection)

{5}The Earl of Cardigan's house here is built of stone, embattled with a turret at each corner, covered with lead and with a rising roof. Before the east front, now used as the principal one, are erected some offices which hinder that part of the view. The hall and other apartments are spacious; the house and library windows are illuminated with the arms and matches of the Brudenell family. In the library are many valuable manuscripts chiefly relating to Northamptonshire written by 1st Lord Brudenell during his confinement in the tower and collected out of the records there, which show him to have been well skilled in matters of antiquity. At the south corner of the east side you enter into a court where is a free-stone porch, with few pillars of the Ionic and Corinthian order above and below.

{7} "By the middle of 1938, Boughton House, Drayton House and Deene Park, all in the what was regarded as the relatively safe county of Northamptonshire, had been settled on as suitable places to store material from the British Museum…" once the house was earmarked on the Central Register, they were ineligible for requisitioning by the War Department" In the event, Deene was requisitioned by the military, absorbing six different units between 1941 and 1944, including Greeks, Poles and Indians.

{9} Undated photo.

{11} A large country residence still in occupation by the Brudenell family, who confirmed the published name as 'Deene Hall'. GP AO/61/139/5 Aspect from S.E.
- " - /6 " from N.E. showing Md.Fabric in eastern wall.
- " - /7 Inner courtyard from North.
- " - /8 Aspect from N.W.

{16} Sketches with measurementsof parts of the Hall;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 13+1458 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), G11 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN41470.

<2> Mowl T.; Hickman C., 2008, The Historic Gardens of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN106082.

<3> Jenkins S., 2003, England's Thousand Best Houses, p.541-42 (unchecked) (Extract). SNN104722.

<4> Heward J.; Taylor R., 1996, The Country Houses of Northamptonshire, pp.152-165 (checked) (Book). SNN41757.

<5> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.299 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77326.

<6> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, pp. 178-183 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<7> Seebohm C., The Country House, A Wartime History 1939-45, p.145-152 (unchecked) (Chapter). SNN39863.

<8> Meadows, A., 2016, Archaeological observation, investigation, recording and analysis of land at Deene Hall, Deene Park, Northamptonshire, February 2016 (Report). SNN110300.

<9> Photographs of buildings in Deene (Photographs). SNN112533.

<10> 1954, The Archaeological Journal (110), p. 206-8 (Journal). SNN69643.

<11> Seaman, B H, 1961, Field investigators comments, F1 BHS 9-AUG-61 (Notes). SNN112887.

<12> 2012, Deene Park: History, [Accessed 20-NOV-2012] (Website). SNN114683.

<14> Historic England, DEENE HALL, DEENE, Illustrations and photographs (Archive). SNN114685.

<15> Historic England, DEENE HALL, DEENE, BF059961 (Archive). SNN114684.

<16> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/86/3,4 (Archive). SNN115.

Record last edited

Oct 24 2024 11:53AM