Description

EDLINGHAM LEMMINGTON HALL
NU 11 SW
9/122 Lemmington Hall
31.12.69 (Sacred Heart
Convent)
GV II*

Country house, c.1750 for Nicholas Fenwick, incorporating C15 towerhouse of
Beadnell family; late C18 alterations by William Newton; roofless ruin in late
C19, restored 1913 for Sir Stephen Aitchison; converted to convent 1947.
House tooled ashlar, tower squared stone; graduated Lakeland slate roof.
Plan: ranges around small court, open to north-east; L-plan tower incorporated
into north-east end of south-east range.

South-east elevation 2 storeys, 9 bays. Centre bay projects and 2 end bays
on either side are set back. High plinth to ground floor sill band. 5
semicircular steps to panelled double door with sidelights; stone cornice and
radial fanlight above in triple-keyed archivolt within broken pediment. Group
of 3 windows above, the outer ones narrower. Ground-floor windows 12-pane
sashes, upper windows 6-pane sashes, all in architraves, those on ground floor
with swell friezes and cornices, and with pediments except in set-back outer
sections. Moulded and modillioned eaves cornice and central pediment.
Parapet behind, carried over pediment, and with urn finials at angles. 2
corniced stacks, irregularly placed.

On left return projecting 3-bay pedimented wing of 1913 in similar style.
Right return shows large stepped buttress of 1913 with exposed masonry of C15
tower house to right; C20 fenestration (utilising imported medieval material)
and embattled parapet. Imposing early C20 round-arched entrance and Venetian
window on rear wing set back to right. Right return of tower shows early C20
traceried lst-floor windows.

Interior: Internal features of house c.1913 re-using stair balustrades, doors
and architraves, window seats etc. from London, mainly from Camelford House,
Park Lane. Other woodwork, including panelling in chapel, from Chateau at
Bar-le-duc, France. Tower retains barrel-vaulted basement and newel stair in
south turret; 1st floor chamber, now chapel, has re-set roll-moulded C16
fireplace behind reredos and mural chamber with oubliette.

C20 glazed front porch, single-storey extension to south-west, and later
north-west extension linking to outbuildings are not of interest.

Listing NGR: NU1210311278

Recommended Books

• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990