Description

NZ 0814 ROKEBY ROKEBY PARK

13/143 Rokeby Park and
attached stables
19.1.52 (formerly listed
as Rokeby Hall)

GV I

Country house, 1725-31 by the owner, Sir Thomas Robinson, incorporating some
earlier fabric; internal alterations after 1769 included redecoration of
Dining Room, probably by John Carr; and heightening of east blocks in later
C19. South front ashlar; other walls rubble, rendered and colour-washed
ochre (except for rear of main block); outer east block heightened in tooled-
and-margined stone; ashlar dressings. Graduated Lakeland slate roofs.
Palladian plan and style.

Main block 3 storeys, with low ground floor (originally planned as basement),
1 + 3 + 1 bays. Plinth, 1st floor and lst floor sill bands, modillion eaves
cornice. Slightly-projecting pedimented centre and 1-storey 3-bay Doric
loggia with paired columns and balustraded balcony (replacing original
external stair); 12-pane sashes to 1st floor, the central (original door) in
architrave with swept feet, pulvinated frieze and pedimented hood on consoles;
6-pane sashes to 2nd floor. All windows in architraves. Pyramid roof with 2
stepped and modillion-corniced lateral stacks on each side slope; tall finial
with weathervane.

Set-back flanking 2-storey, 3-bay blocks, the ground floor low; east block
has added storey dated 1877. Similar treatment to main house, except for
Venetian windows in west return; tall hipped roofs. Outer 1-storey, 3-bay
blocks, set farther back, have projecting pedimented centres and flanking
niches. Added storey to right block.

North elevation: 3-storey, 3-bay centre. Ground floor set forward carrying
balcony between 4-storey pyramid-roofed towers. Above balcony a Venetian
window with Diocletian window above. Lower part of left tower shows older
masonry with roughly-shaped quoins and blocked mullioned window. Stable
yards flanking rear court have rusticated entrance arches. North-east yard
shows original stable with triple-arched front. Entrance to court is flanked
by attached piers carrying lead sphinxes.

Interior: Lavish internal detail with carved cornices, doors, skirtings,
chair rails and architraves in a variety of classical patterns. Tuscan
colonnades in Entrance Hall and Library. Richly-decorated Breakfast Room
lined with late C18 prints. Circular vestibule links to oval ante-room and
stair-hall; 3-storey open-well cut string stair with gadrooned umbrella
balusters, carved newels, wreathed ramped and moulded handrail and curtail
step. First-floor saloon retains 5 original door and cupboard surrounds
including carved pedimented principal door with motto 'FAY CE QUE VOUDRAS'.
Later Greek Revival fireplace in 2-colour marble. Painted Gothick ceiling
with vaulted coving. Bedroom on west of saloon has barrel vault with Rococo
carving in panels, on end walls and on fireplace. Anteroom with exedra and
2 Ionic screens. Dining Room with ornamental ceiling, enriched Venetian
window in end wall and, facing the 3 south windows, a wide exedra with niches
flanking a carved fireplace.

Listing NGR: NZ0828214181

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Rokeby Park at Wikipedia
• Rokeby Park official website
• Wikidata Q7359985

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)