Description

EYDON
SP54NW
3/54 Eydon Hall
11/9/53

GV I

Country house. 1789-91 for the Rev. Francis Annesley by James Lewis. Minor
internal alterations c.1930 by Sir Herbert Baker. Ironstone ashlar with
limestone dressings, said to have been quarried in the estate. Hipped slate
roof, stone stacks. Square plan with entrance to hall to north, flanked by Study
and Dressing Room. Central top-lit Staircase Hall. Drawing Room and Dining Room
to south and south-east. Service court to east. 2 storeys, basement and attic, 5
bays. Entrance to north has pediment over 3 centre bays. 9-pane sash windows
with plain stone frames in basement. Central doorway approached by stone steps
with C20 cast iron balustrade. Doorway has moulded stone architrave, flat hood
on carved brackets and 4-panel double door with fanlight. Sash windows on either
side have moulded stone architraves. Similar windows in outer bays have cast
iron balconies and are set in recessed niches. String course at first floor
level. Stone panel above 3 centre bays carved with swags and rosettes. Sash
windows on first floor with moulded architraves. Dentil cornice and balustraded
parapet. Garden front has portico with 4 unfluted Ionic columns, straight
entablature with frieze of acanthus scrolls and balustrade with stone panel in
centre carved with Annesley arms. It is approached by stone steps with cast iron
balustrade. Interior: Hall has marble fireplace, the frieze with a relief of
cherubs. Black and white marble floor said to be c,1930 by Sir Herbert Baker.
Open well staircase with glazed oval dome and cantilevered stone stair with
cast iron balustrade. Main rooms have narrow ornamental plaster cornices. "A
house of moderate size and great, if reticent elegance" (Pevsner). The plans and
elevations are illustrated in James Lewis's "original Designs in Architecture",
Vol.II, 1797. Francis Annesley was Rector of Chedzoy, Somerset. Some of his
letters referring to the building of Eydon Hall in the Northamptonshire Record
Office. His nephew, Arthur Annesley, Earl of Anglesey, employed Lewis to remodel
his house at Bletchington, Oxon in 1782, to which he added a similar portico.
The old Manor House stood east of the church and was demolished in the late C18.
(Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.211; H.M. Colvin, Biographical
Dictionary of Architects, p.518; M. Binney, Eydon hall, Country Life, Vol.149,
January 21st, 1971, p.128-131).

Listing NGR: SP5397849791

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Eydon Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5422576

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas