Building record 368/1/1 - Catesby Abbey

{1} An engraving of the house in about 1720 and drawings of the house made in 1844 suggest that the 16th century house was arranged around a central courtyard, perhaps the original cloister, but that the main west front was rebuilt around 1700, probably by the Parkhursts, with a symmetrical elevation and projecting wings.

{2} Catesby was one of four monastic houses in the county converted to secular use after the Dissolution. After 1537 the church was demolished, except for a fragment at the east end, and the ranges on three sides of the cloister to the south were remodelled. The evidence for the arrangement of the building in the 16th century is ambiguous but the plan suggests a compromise with the normal requirements of a large house; in particular, there is no evidence for a great hall.
In the late 17th century the west range was remodelled, the design of the façade, with hipped roofs, cross-mullion windows and a pedimented doorcase, being similar to contemporary work. This adaptation was created by adding new short wings or pavilions to the front and remodelling the façade of the range. Internally, the retention of the principal dining room on the first floor, over the entrance hall, is noteworthy since this was an arrangement which developed in smaller houses in the county in the late 16th century. Most of the house was demolished in 1863 when a new house was built on a new site.
The nunnery church was demolished, though a sedilia and a piscina flanking a doorway survived in the south wall of the room at the N end of the F range. Although this is unusual,it implies that part of the chancel was retained. The 16th-century house was contrived in the monastic ranges around the cloister. Floors were inserted and tall dormer windows added to light new attic storeys and a gallery 20m by 5.5m was contrived in the roof of the south range. Later descriptions imply that it had a barrel ceiling.
The monastic kitchen may have remained in use since an account of 1849 describes the kitchen as ‘notable’. There is no evidence for the arrangement of the west range in the 16th century but a two-storey block projecting from the south west corner may have been the ‘new building’ containing a bed chamber, recorded in 1585. A vaulted undercroft which survived in 1849 was probably below the south range and may have been medieval.
In 1670 the house had 20 hearths. At the end of the 17th century the west range of the house was rebuilt though the gables at each end suggest that much of the original range was retained. The new front, of two storeys of almost equal height, had a seven-bay centre flanked by wings of two bays breaking forward by two bays with cross-mullioned windows, hipped roofs and hipped or pedimented dormers. The central doorway had a rounded pediment and led to a large paved hall from which a staircase with twisted balusters led to a Dining Room on the first floor. Beyond the latter was a principal suite with Bedchamber, the Cedar Room, an ante room or dressing room, and a separate stair. On the ground floor in 1849 were a dining room the same size as the principal bedroom and so presumably below it, a library and a breakfast parlour which adjoined the stair and inner hall. The south range had service rooms on the ground floor and a run of seven bedrooms on the first floor.
In 1863 a new house was built on a new site. Most of the old house was demolished, though some panelling and a 17th-century staircase were reused in the new house.

{4} Photo dated 1860, other photos, tracings, plans, measurements, engravings, drawings of tiles;

{5} Letter dated October 30 1859 from Rev Thomas James of Theddingworth re demolition of abbey:

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.40 site 4 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<2> Heward J.; Taylor R., 1996, The Country Houses of Northamptonshire, p.139 (checked) (Book). SNN41757.

<3> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.145 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<4> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/58/2,3,18,22,25,27,28,41-49 (Archive). SNN115.

<5> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/58/5 (Archive). SNN115.

Record last edited

Oct 24 2024 11:52AM