Building record 2169/2/1 - Beaulieu Hall

Remains of a 16th to 17th century Jacobean country house and gardens with fishponds which may have originally been surrounded by a moat. Part of the original manor has been demolished and the remaining part is now used as a house. Restored during the 20th century.

{1}The remnants of Beaulieu Hall, an early 17th century building, which is the only fragment of a large manor house belonging to the Montagu family who acquired the manor in 1540. On the evidence of extant remains, the site may have been occupied by a moated manor house in the medieval period when it was owned by Ramsey Abbey. However the Montagus appear to have enlarged and adapted the older watercourses to form an elaborate garden, probably contemporaneously with work on the existing building. By 1713 the site was abadonned, the greater part of the house having been pulled down in about 1618.

{11} Country house, now house. Probably late C16 for Montagu family, restored C20. Squared coursed limestone with Colleyweston slate roof. Originally probably U-shaped plan, in Jacobean style, of which one wing remains. 2 storeys with attic. Entrance front is a one-window range with 4-light stone mullion windows to ground and first floor. Ground floor window has transom. Doorway to left has 4-centred arch-head and chamfered stone surround. C20 door. Moulded string course between floors. Ashlar gable parapets and kneelers. Right gable has 2 moulded finials remaining, with diamond panel decoration to finial block at eaves. Large stone stack, with brick coping, projecting from left gable. C20 two-bay extension, attached to left, has reconstructed stone mullion windows. Right gable has 4-light stone mullion windows, with transoms, to ground and first floor and 2-light stone mullion attic window. Moulded string courses between floors. Rear elevation has large lateral stone stack, with brick coping, to centre. Square-head doorway, to far right, has moulded stone surround with moulded cornice and 2 rectangular panels above. C20 polygonal bay attached to right. Interior: entrance hall has open fireplace with bressumer to left of entrance, fragment of reset medieval masonry to right. Drawing room, to right of hall, has C20 fireplace access to old lateral stack. Exposed ceiling beams are mainly original. First floor room, above drawing room, has C17 fireplace with 4-centred arch-head an moulded stone surround. Remains of 5 roof trusses with queen posts and clasped purlins. Said to have formed part of a moated site enclosing 8 acres. Dean Swift, writing in 1713, records that the house had been pulled down; it was recorded as two houses in early C19. A large fireplace was removed in 1913. (V.C.H.: Northamptonshire, Vol.3: p.80; RCH: An Inventory of Architectural Monuments in North Northamptonshire: p.89).

{13} Undated photo.

{14} Beaulieu Hall, as described by authority 15. GP AO/62/41/8. Northwest aspect.

{15} Late Elizabethan. One wing of a larger mansion. Gable, mullioned-and-transomed windows. An elaborate carved stone chimneypiece attributed to the Thorpes of Kingscliffe is now in the Drawing Room in Boughton House.

{16} Hall now unoccupied. No change in survey of '62.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.52-54 (checked) (Series). SNN77379.

<2> Page W. (ed), 1930, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.80 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100370.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, TL08NE (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<4> Taylor, R., 1984, Beaulieu Hall, Hemington, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN51714.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<7> TAYLOR R., 1984, UNPUBLISHED REPORT, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN57428.

<8> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<9> English Heritage, 1992, English Heritage Scheduling Notification, (part checked) (Report). SNN47128.

<10> Heward J.; Taylor R., 1996, The Country Houses of Northamptonshire, p.84-85 (part checked) (Book). SNN41757.

<11> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 9/90 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<12> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), G10 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN41470.

<13> Photographs of buildings in Hemington (Photographs). SNN112656.

<14> Seaman, B H, 1962, Field Investigators Comments, F1 BHS 04-MAY-1962 (Note). SNN113373.

<15> Bailey, B, Pevsner, N, and Cherry, B, 2013, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p. 327 (Book). SNN111989.

<16> Seaman, BH, 1969, Field investigators comments, F2 BHS 29-AUG-1969 (Notes). SNN111907.

<17> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, DOE (HHR) Oundle & Thrapston RD Northants. April 1963 76 (Report). SNN112993.

<18> Historic England, Undated, BEAULIEU HALL, HEMINGTON, Drawings associated with Beaulieu Hall (Drawing). SNN114282.

<19> RCHME, Undated, RCHME: Beaulieu Hall, Northamptonshire, AF0623280 (Archive). SNN114280.

Record last edited

Oct 24 2024 11:45AM