Building record 4679/5/1 - Grafton House, Gayton Road

House. Circa early C19, altered in late C19. Dressed limestone. Hipped plain tile roof, the lower 2 courses slate, and partly slate at rear.

{1} House. Circa early C19, altered in late C19. Dressed limestone. Hipped plain tile roof, the lower 2 courses slate, and partly slate at rear. Red brick axial stacks.
PLAN: the original house is L-shaped on plan with principal room on either side of front entrance and wing to rear left; the single storey and attic flanking wing may be additions but the 2-storey block in the angle at the back is a later C19 addition.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attic. Symmetrical 1:3:1 bay north east front. Ground floor 2 later C19 canted bays and stone pilastered and pedimented doorway at centre with fielded panelled door and rectangular overlight with margin panes. First floor 2 tripartite 4:12:4 pane C19 sashes and central 4 pane sash, 2 late C19 gabled half dormers with 9 pane sashes. Low flanking wings, set back slightly, with 4 pane sashes. Rear (SW): hipped wing on right with 12-pane sash; main roof carried down over late C19 addition in angle on left, with casement windows, and glazed doors with overlights. Flanking wing on right with hipped dormer.
INTERIOR: Only ground floor seen, some Georgian doors, but mostly Victorian joinery and chimneypieces.
NOTE: Said to have been a farmhouse on the Grafton Estate. It then became Blisworth Mill (qv) owner's house and John Westley is listed in Kelly's Directory 1898, as living at Grafton House. SOURCE: Kelly's Directory 1898.

{3} In 1793 Simon Stubbs sought permission from The Duke of Grafton to build an inn on the land, probably as a response to the start of canal construction opposite. Additionally the road through Blisworth was registered as a turnpike in 1794, due to the expected increase in traffic from the new canal.
The inn was initially known as The Duke's Arms, but quickly seems to have become The Grafton Arms. Stubbs leased the inn from the Duke of Grafton in 1798 for a period of 21 years. The lease mentions that Stubbs had built the inn, stables and other outbuildings out of his own pocket. A further barn was built in 1800. It is not known whether the barns on the current site were contemporary with the inn or were built at this slightly later date. Certainly by the 1808 Inclosure Map they are in existence. Little detail to either side of the main building is visible, although the area to the north appears to be fairly open, probably functioning as a yard.
The Grafton Arms closed within a few years after the end of the turnpike system in 1873 and the house was converted to a private residence by Joseph Westley, who was listed in the 1881 census as a miller, farmer, baker and merchant. Blisworth corn mill was built in 1879 by Westley opposite the house, replacing the old mill and bakehouse, which had been damaged by fire.
The Grafton Estate encountered severe difficulties after WWI and Grafton House was sold in October 1919 to the Westley family.

{4} Photo dated 15.12.1993;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 10/10000 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F10 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Walker C., 2011, Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment of Land at Gayton Road, Blisworth, p.3-6 (checked) (Report). SNN108139.

<4> Photographs of buildings in Blisworth (Photographs). SNN112040.

Record last edited

Mar 25 2025 10:58AM