Newby Hall, Newby with Mulwith, North Yorkshire

Description

The following amendments should be made to the entry for Newby Hall, Newby Park, Newby
with Mulwith (Item 1/28):-

Line 1 of the list description should be amended to read:-
'Country house. Completed by 1697 (Morris, p97) for Sir Edward Blackett, possibly to.....

Line 62 of the list description should be amended to read:-
'organ, possibly by James 'Athaeneum' Stewart, stands against the south wall' .

Line 83 of the list description should be amended to read:-
'bookcases by Belwood remains in the withdrawing room, after extensive C19 and'....

Lines 146, 147, 148, 149, 150and 151 of the list description should be amended to read:-
'Royal and Fountains Abbey Estate of the Vyner family. Mary Vyner inherited
Newby in 1915 having married Lord Alwyne Compton in 1866 (he died in 1911); they were
the grandparents of the present owner. J Hodgson, History of Northumberland, (1827)
Reprinted 1973, Vol 2, p 258. Robin Compton, Guide to Newby Hall, 1987. Jill Low,
'William Belwood: Architect and Surveyor', YAJ 56, 1984, p 131. C. Morris (ed),
The Illustrated Journeys of Celia Fiennes, 1685-c1712, (1982), pp96-97. J Cornforth,
'Newby in the 19th Century', Country Life, 25 December 1980, p 2406.

------------------------------------

SE 36 NW NEWBY WITH MULWITH NEWBY PARK

1/28 Newby Hall (formerly listed
with stables)
23.4.52

GV I

Country house. c1695-1705 for Sir Edward Blackett, possibly to designs by
Sir Christopher Wren; north and south wings added on east side c1775 - the
ground floor by John Carr, upper storeys added by William Belwood pre 1785
and house reversed by addition of entrance porch on east side, the interior
remodelled at the same time, to designs by Robert Adam and William Belwood,
all for William Weddell. The west side extended northwards by the addition
of a single-storey dining room in 1808 by John Shaw with contributions by
Thomas Weddell Robinson, 3rd Lord Grantham and Earl de Grey for whom it was
built. Upper storey added to dining room and northern range of service
rooms added late C19 for Lady Mary and Robert de Grey Vyner. Red-brown
brick, Flemish bond, ashlar quoins and dressings, grey slate roofs, wrought-
iron details. The original building is a 3-storey, 9 x 5 bay block, with a
central entrance (now window) to the west side, the entrance to the house
now to centre of east side; wings are of 2 storeys and 7 bays. The added
north dining room is of 3 x 2 bays and 2 storeys high, facing west.
Original house, west front: the 2 outer and central bays project and all are
defined by ashlar quoins. Central doorway, now a window, flanked by paired
Corinthian columns supporting richly carved entablature and a broken
segmental pediment; an entablature with a segmental pediment over to the
first floor of central bay. Fenestration: unequally hung 15-pane sashes to
ground and first floors, 9-pane unequally hung sashes to second floor, all with
moulded sills, and in eared architraves,those to ground and first floors
with keystones. Deep moulded string courses at first- and second-floor
levels continuous round the building, bracketed eaves cornices and
balustraded parapet with bulbous balusters. Banded stacks flank the central
bay and bays 3 and 7. To left - added range: quoins; central 3-window
section breaks forward, central glazed door flanked by 15-pane sashes,
recessed panels above. Added first floor: central glazed door flanked by
plate-glass sashes, wrought-iron balcony. High parapet with balustraded
top, hipped roof, corniced stack left. East front, main entrance: central
6-panel double door under a fanlight with flanking pilasters. Porch: paired
Ionic columns, entablature and cornice, blocking course carved with scrolls
and swags. The porch is flanked by a railing composed of an anthemion
frieze in wrought-iron, with bands of Greek key and guilloche motifs; the
railings linked to a rectangular and a square pier on each side.
Fenestration, and facade details as west front. South (garden) front:
original house - the central bay breaks forward, with a central doorway, now
window, below segmental pediment supported by consoles with panels of finely
carved fruit and flowers. All the ground-floor windows have sills lowered
to the internal floor level, and 18-pane sashes, the outer windows blind.
The remaining windows as west front, the first floor of centre bay with
similar entablature and segmental pediment. Added south wing to right: the
central 3 bays break forward, central panelled doors flanked by blind
recesses containing classical busts all beneath portico with 6 Tuscan
columns (those to ends paired), entablature and balustrade. Sashes with
glazing bars in architraves with cornices to ground floor, 6-pane sashes to
first floor. Eaves cornice, high central parapet with 3 swagged panels,
flanked by balustrading. North front: the central 3 bays break forward,
with central glazed doors. The facade details as main front, the right
2 bays obscured by the added C19 range. North and south wings projecting on
east side; facades to courtyard: fenestration and details as south-facing
front of south wing, with projecting central bays and parapets with swags;
canted bays to east ends. Interior: the house contains some of the finest
Neoclassical detail in Europe, introduced during a remodelling of the
interior for William Weddell during a period of about 20 years from 1765.
The designs were by Robert Adam and William Belwood, with influences from
Sir William Chambers; the artists involved included Joseph Rose, Antonio
Zucchi, Angelica Kaufmann and Thomas Chippendale, with materials brought
from Italy and France. Ground floor, principal rooms: the entrance hall
with marble floor reflecting the ceiling pattern, the walls decorated with
Roman trophies in plaster and pictures incorporated into the ornament. An
organ, possibly by James 'Athaneum' Stuart, stands against the south wall.
The entrance hall is flanked by a staircase hall to each side: the grand
staircase to south, giving access to the 'State Lodging Apartment' on the
first floor, for which Belwood drew up plans in c1775. Italian marble
columns in antis support the upper floor, the cantilevered stone stairs of
3 straight flights have a wrought-iron balustrade with palmette and
anthemion motifs and a beaded mahogany handrail. The staircase on the north
side of the entrance hall gave access to William Weddell's private
apartments; the wrought-iron balustrade is in a geometric style decorated
with scrolls and leaf motifs. This staircase and the rooms in the northern
wing (formerly estate offices and Mrs Weddell's bedroom suite above) were
not seen in detail at resurvey. On the west side of the house the original
entrance hall became the Tapestry Room, completed 1776, flanked by William
Weddell's study and dressing room, now a withdrawing room and sitting room
to the north, and an anteroom, incorporated into the staircase hall when a
partition wall was removed in the C19, to the south. The tapestries were
from the Gobelins factory in Paris, Robert Adam designed the ceiling of
geometric panels with sphinxes and husk chains and painted roundels, the
2 French pier tables and glasses between the windows and the chairs are all
part of the original scheme. The sitting room and withdrawing room have
pine fireplaces; Robert Adam's ceiling for Weddell's study and 1 of the
bookcases by Belwood remain in the withdrawing room, after extensive C19 and
C20 redecoration. On the south-facing side of the house the Weddell dining
room was altered to a library/sitting room in the early C19 but Robert
Adam's interior of 1767-9 remains. The ends are apsidal (hence the blind
windows), with wooden Corinthian columns in antis and an arched recess at
the west end but a doorway at the east end leading to the Sculpture Gallery.
The ceiling panel depicts Bacchus and Ariadne in a border of finely worked
vine leaves; the marble fireplace has masks and classical motifs, the
doorcases are richly moulded, with consoles supporting a cornice. The
Sculpture Gallery comprises 3 inter-connecting rooms, 2 square flanking a
central top lit rotunda. Robert Adam's plasterwork almost overwhelms the
classical statuary which it was intended to set off. Adam is also thought
to have designed several of the pedestals, some with openwork grills and
possibly intended to contain charcoal or hot water stoves - there is no
fireplace in the gallery. The new dining room, added onto the north side of
the house in 1808 is square with alcoves to either end. The cambered
ceilings of the alcoves have square recessed panels containing flower
paterae, similar to the plasterwork (by William Belwood) of the portico (by
John Carr). The ceiling frieze of cups and lion skins with modillioned
cornice was taken by the 3rd Lord Grantham from a design by his father for
Baldersby (then Newby) Park. First floor: some original early C18 features
survive including doorcases to landing and one fireplace. Most rooms were
redecorated in the mid-late C19, including the motto room by Lady Mary Vyner
in 1857. Improved plumbing resulted in a bathroom being inserted into
William Weddell's main lodging room on the south side. The original
refurbishing of both the private apartments and Lodging Apartments for
important guests was by William Belwood; only the Circular Room (opposite
the top of the Grand Staircase) retains the original decoration. This was a
dressing room with curved doors painted in 'grotesque' work, possibly by
Elizabeth Ramsden, who married Weddell in 1771. The remaining rooms on the
south side of the house were altered in the C19 and redecorated c1980-85,
but retain ceiling cornices, fireplaces and door and window fittings of the
late C18. Second floor not investigated. An oak staircase in flamboyant
late C19 Jacobean style behind the added dining room gives access to a
billiard room on the first floor, decorated in the same style, incorporating
some original C17 panelling and carving. The wallpaper, coved and glazed
ceiling, billiard table and light fittings are all original. History: in
1680 Sir William Blackett of Wallington, Northumberland,died. He had been a
successful merchant and was Sheriff, then MP for Newcastle, owning many
manors and the mineral rights in the county, much of his wealth coming from
the coal mines. In his will he left £500 for an estate to be bought for his
son Edward, along with manors, mines and collieries in the county. Edward
was Sheriff of Newcastle in 1681 and in 1689 MP for Ripon, by that time
having bought the Newby Estate from the Crossland family. In c1695 Sir
Edward began the new Newby Hall, costing £32,000. He died in 1718. In 1748
the estate was sold to Richard Elcock Weddell, who bought it for his son,
William, then aged 12. In his late 20's William made the Grand Tour and in
1766 work began to remodel Newby in the latest Classical style. It appears
that as well as changing the main entrance from the west to the east side
Weddell divided the building into 2 sections: his own private apartments
north of the entrance hall, and a suite of rooms for display from the
Tapestry Room facing west, the grand staircase behind, to the elaborate
reception/dining room and Sculpture Gallery on the south. The first floor
reflects the same division, the private rooms to north, and a 'State Lodging
Apartment' facing west and south. William Weddell employed Robert Adam to
apply decoration to the principal rooms and William Belwood to work with him
on the basic scheme, with consultations from John Carr and Sir William
Chambers. The layout of the remodelled house reflects the late C18 desire
to use the building as a display in itself, as well as a container for
beautiful objects collected in Europe by a man of wealth and standing.
William Weddell died in 1792, leaving the house to Thomas Philip Robinson;
through this inheritance the Newby Estate is linked with 2 other great
estates in the area: Newby (now Baldersby) Park near Ripon, and the Studley
Royal and Fountains Abbey Estate of the Vyner family. Mary Vyner inherited
Newby in 1915 and married Lord Alwyne Compton; they were the grandparents of
the present owner. J Hodgson, History of Northumberland, (1827) Reprinted
1973, Vol 2, p 258. Robin Compton, Guide to Newby Hall, 1987. Jill Low,
'William Belwood: Architect and Surveyor', YAJ 56, 1984, p 131.
J Cornforth, 'Newby in the 19th Century', Country Life, 25 December 1980,
p 2406.

Listing NGR: SE3478667436

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British Listed Buildings

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Newby Hall

A Grade I Listed Building in Newby with Mulwith, North Yorkshire

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