Description

NORTH YORKSHIRE HARROGATE 5338

SE 2768 LINDRICK WITH STUDLEY FOUNTAINS LANE ROYAL AND FOUNTAINS (east side, off)

9/34 Fountains Hall

23.4.52

GV I

Large house, now offices and exhibition centre. 1598-1611 for Sir Stephen Proctor, with alterations by Mr Clare Vyner c1930. Grey limestone, stone slate roof. Built in the Renaissance style of Robert Smythson. 3-bay central block of 2 storeys plus basement flanked by projecting gabled wings of 4 storeys plus basement and buttressed at each end by 5-storey projecting towers. Central round-arched entrance flanked by coupled fluted Ionic columns with statuettes of knights and 2 more in niches to left and right. Balcony above with balustrade and 5 statuettes. Basement windows of 5 lights; 5-light mullion and transom ground-floor windows flanking and slightly higher than the entrance. Behind the balcony is a tall semicircular 5-light oriel window with 2 transoms and to left and right equally-tall 2-transomed 5-light windows - the climax of the facade. Flanking gabled wings: 3-storey bay window with transomed 5-light windows to first, second and third floors; 3-light mullion windows in gable. Flanking towers: 3-light mullion and transom windows to first, second and third floors. Moulded string to each floor level. Crenellated parapets, the wings with shaped gables. Large corniced stacks with coupled flues, mainly to rear of ridge. Rear: shallow projecting gabled wings flanking central recessed range; board door entered from terraced pathway (qv) over short bridge at third-floor level, right. Interior: a flight of steps to right immediately inside the entrance arch gives access up to the great hall. A flight to the left leads down to the basement containing kitchen and service rooms. The hall contains screens passage with enclosed gallery over; a large fireplace with moulded Tudor arch against the north wall and flanked by large mullion and transom windows; panelling. Original newel stair in south-west tower; imported wooden-framed stair with large balusters and ball finials in rear (north-east) wing (inserted c1930). The Great Chamber: elaborate chimney-piece with strapwork, caryatids and sculptured panel representing the judgement of Solomon; the ceiling a replica of that at Canonbury Tower, c1930. In 1540 Fountains Abbey was bought by Sir Richard Gresham and in 1597 it was sold to Sir Stephen Proctor, Collector and Receiver of Fines on Penal Statutes to James I. Sir Stephen built the house from stone taken from abbey buildings to south and east of the cloister, but there is little sign of the stone being reused. He may have built on the foundations of early C16 buildings near the Abbey gatehouse (Hope, p 133). He died in disgrace and the Hall passed through several owners into the hands of the Messenger family who held it until 1768 when William Aislabie added it to his estate at Studley Park (qv) as the culmination of his father's landscaped grounds. The combined estates then passed through the ownership of the Robinson family of Newby Park, Ripon, including the first Marquis of Ripon (1827-1909) who married Henrietta Vyner. In 1923 the Vyner family came into ownership and the hall became a permanent residence again after restoration. From 1966 the West Riding and North Yorkshire County Councils were owners until the estate was acquired by the National Trust in 1983. 'Fountains Hall, Yorkshire', Country Life, August 15 1931. N Pevsner, West Riding, p 213. W T C Walker, Studley Royal and Fountains Abbey Estate, 1976.

Listing NGR: SE2714368298

External Links

• Fountains Hall at Wikipedia
• Fountains Hall official website
• Wikidata Q5474851

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

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)