Building record 5629/1/1 - Biggin Hall

Country house. Medieval origins, centre range c.1700, entrance front and pavilions mid C18, flanking wings to garden front and domestic offices mid C19. Remodelling and extension to garden front and first floor ranges between pavilions c.1911 by H. Biddulph Pinchard and interior remodelling c.1938 by Hon. Claude Yorke for Watts-Russell family. Limestone and lias ashlar with stone slate and lead roofs.

{1} Country house. Medieval origins, centre range c.1700, entrance front and pavilions mid C18, flanking wings to garden front and domestic offices mid C19. Remodelling and extension to garden front and first floor ranges between pavilions c.1911 by H. Biddulph Pinchard and interior remodelling c.1938 by Hon. Claude Yorke for Watts-Russell family. Limestone and lias ashlar with stone slate and lead roofs. Double-pile 2 storeys with attic and basement. Entrance front of 13 bays. Centre 5 bays have po tico with pediment supported on 4 giant Ionic columns. Outer columns have a second column behind and a corresponding pilaster, to each end of centre range, supporting a continuation of the entablature. Rear wall of portico has sash windows with plain surrounds. Central 6-panelled door with arch-head fanlight, moulded stone surround and keyblock. Return walls of portico have arch-head niches. Mansard roof behind parapet has 2 dormers with pediments. 4, central, ashlar stacks. Flanking 3 bays, riginally of single storey with basement, have sash windows with moulded stone surrounds and cornices. Squared sash windows to basement have plain surrounds. Flat roof to ground floor has first floor range of c.1911 set back, all in similar style. Flanking pavilions have Venetian windows at ground floor and similar tripartite window, with centre pediment, at first floor. Tripartite basement windows. Pediments over each pavilion have dentilled cornices similar to central portico. Recessed band below all ground floor windows. Ashlar stacks at ridge. Side elevations of partitions of 3-window range of sash windows with plain surrounds, some are now blind. Garden front to rear of entrance front of 15 bays. Centre 5 bays of original house have central part-glazed door with c.1911 shell hood. Sash windows with glazing bars have plain ashlar surrounds with keyblocks. Small 2-stage buttresses to left and right. Rusticated quoins and dentilled cornice. C19 mansard roof with central pediment o c.1911 and flanking dormers with pediments. Return walls of centre range have 2-window ranges of sash windows, some are blind and some retain early C18 glazing bars. Flanking 3 bays remodelled 1911 have similar sash windows with limestone ashlar dressings and keyblocks. Mid C19 flanking 2 bays, remodelled 1911 in similar style, break forward as wings with pediments over. Raised bands between floors and limestone ashlar dressings at corners. Central and flanking pediments have plasterwork dec ration. Mid C19, 2-storey, domestic office range is attached to far left. Interior: entrance hall, to centre of entrance front, remodelled 1911 when staircase was removed. Front door and corresponding arch-head doorway opposite are flanked by detached columns and pilasters. Drawing room to left of entrance has C18 six-panel doors. Doorcases and cornice with oakleaves are probably c.1938. C18 style fireplace. Sitting room in pavilion to far left has late C18/early C19 marble fireplace with fri ze depicting pastoral scene. Late C18 cornice and Rococo style ceiling. To the rear of this room is a C18 staircase with 3 thin turned balusters per tread. The library to the right of the entrance, originally the dining room, was remodelled 1911. Staircase to right of the library is also c.1911. The dining room in pavilion to far right, originally the kitchen, was remodelled in 1938. The morning room and the study occupy the centre range of the garden front, both probably remodelled c.1911: the morning room has a bolection moulded fire surround and the study has an arch-head niche. Due to the internal alterations of 1911 some first floors do not correspond with window openings. The Manor of Biggin was originally held by the Abbots of Peterborough, at the Dissolution it passed to Katherine Parr, then to the Russell family, and by 1688 to the Marquess of Powis who sold to James Joye in 1724. The Joye family were probably responsible for the entrance front. Jesse Watts-Russell, in whose family the house still remains, bought the estate in 1822. (Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.105; Gotch, J.A., Squires Homes and Other Old Buildings of Northamptonshire, p.9; Nares, G., Country Life, November 18th 1954, p.1758-1761 and November 25th 1954, p.1852-1855).

{5} Dating and survey of the kitchen block. The kitchen is probably of 1852-5 to judge by the style of the roof trusses and the closely dated lock to the north door. The scullery replaced an earlier structure in c1902-14. it was fitted out with a secondary cooking range, locally supplied and fitted from a nationally-reputable maker.
(More detail in report)

{7} Undated photo;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 4/1 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), G09 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN41470.

<2> CADMAN G.E., 1998, Biggin, Benefield; Archaeological and Historic Landscape Management Guidance, (unchecked) (Document). SNN54971.

<3> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<4> 1819, NRO Box X5394 Smith of Oundle 511/1 sale catalogue (Biggin), (unchecked) (Map). SNN102448.

<5> Soden I, 2012, Biggin Hall Kitchens: Historic Asset Survey preparatory to reordering of the kitchen and stairway interiors, (checked) (Report). SNN110234.

<6> 1954, Country Life (1954), 1758-1761; 1852-1855 (Journal). SNN60714.

<7> Photographs of buildings in Benefield (Photographs). SNN111913.

<8> Historic England, Undated, Biggin Hall, BF061845 (Archive). SNN116008.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2024 3:15PM