SNN103355 - An Archaeological Building Assessment at the Dower House Rushton Northamptonshire

The general opinion of those authorities who have looked at the building situated within the grounds of Rushton Hall and now known as the Dower House is that it is of early 18th century origin. The house's dependence on a medieval layout, the H-plan, at a time when much polite, late 17th and early/mid 18th century domestic building resorted to the post-Renaissance double-pile form that was so much in vogue may be attributed to its original function as an inn, rather than its subsequent use as a polite residence. It is interesting to note that the layout of the central section of the property places considerable emphasis on a short axis arrangement of an entrance hall with the entrance hall with the staircase in the rear section. This hall and staircase arrangement bears a strong resemblance to the central feature of a double-pile plan. In this example at The Dower House the short axis plan bisects the H-plan's long axis which runs through the house on an east-west alignment.