Description

ELLESMERE RURAL C.P. HARDWICK SJ 33 SE 8/115 Hardwick Hall including - balustraded terraces attached to flanking wings 27.5.53 (formerly listed as Hardwick Hall) GV II* Country house. Circa 1720-30 for John Kynaston, possibly by Francis Smith of Warwick; C19 additions and alterations. Red brick, painted to left and right on ground floor, with sandstone ashlar facing to centre section; hipped open-well slate roof concealed by high eaves parapet. Main range rectangular with flanking semi-circular walls (screening later additions) linking with projecting wings, left stable-block and right service range. 3 storeys. South (former entrance) front: 2:3:2 bays with rusticated stone quoin strips and Corinthian pilasters flanking segmental-pedimented centre section; floor bands and moulded stone eaves cornice. Glazing bar sashes with gauged heads, projecting keystones and brick aprons to outer bays on first and second floors, in moulded stone architraves with projecting keystones and aprons to centre section, centre window on first floor a 'dummy' with husked garlands to sides and carving of head in place of keystone. Central segmental pediment has Kynaston family coat-of-arms with superscribed motto "DEUS ES NOBIS SOL ET ENSIS" to flowing ribbon. Ground floor has C19 four-paned sashes, those to outer bays with brick aprons and those to centre section extending to ground, middle in position of former doorway with flanking Corinthian columns. Rectangular red brick stacks to left and right of pediment have 2 recessed panels to sides and one to front and rear with moulded stone capping. Similar stacks behind. Single-storey polygonal projection to right corner has pediment to front partly concealing splayed slate roof. 3 French casements in moulded stone architraves with projecting keystones and floor band above. Attached to right is semi-circular wall with ramped stone coping: 3 blind round-headed arches with continuous stone impost band links with right wing. Red brick; steep-pitched hipped graded slate roof with prominent stack to central open well. 5 x 5 bays, slightly shorter to south. 2 storeys and attic with moulded stone plinth, eaves cornice, alternating rusticated angle quoins and brick floor band. West side has 5 segmental-headed casements to first floor and 4 taller casements to ground floor, 2 to either side of central entrance with panelled double doors and segmental- headed overlight. All windows are multi-paned with mixture of cast-iron and wooden lights. Three 2-light leaded dormers in roof slope, left and right with triangular pediments, centre segmental. South side has 5 segmental-headed window openings on each floor, taller to ground floor, all with glazing bar sashes except for first from left on first floor and left and first from left on ground floor, which are blind and centre on ground floor which has inserted doorway. Former laundry attached to east. Mid-to late C19. Red brick; hipped slate roof with wooden louvre to right. Single storey with 3 cast-iron latticed windows to front. This is linked to mid-C19 game larder. Red brick; hipped slate roof with ventilated louvre to right. Large wire-meshed windows. C20 conservatory (not of special architectural interest) on site of C19 conservatory attached to left corner of main range is linked to semi-circular wall on left, very similar to that on right. This in turn is attached to left projecting wing, almost identical to right wing, except that it has boarded double doors, eaves cornice is wooden and has greater number of blind openings to south side. Former stack with round-headed arches to sides has clock to east side, weathervane and moulded stone capping. Left return of main range in 5 bays with pilaster buttress between second and third windows from left. Aprons to second-floor windows and several blind windows throughout. Similar arrangement to right return except that buttress is continued upto form external lateral stock. Various C18 and C19 outbuildings and walls attached to both sides. North elevation: 4:1:4 bays with rusticated quoin strips, cornice, parapet and floor bands carried round from returns (although bands are of stone to this side). Glazing bar sashes (18- paned to first floor) with gauged heads, projecting keystones and aprons to first and second floors, those to centre in moulded stone architraves. Ground floor has C19 half-glazed door to left with 2 'dummy' 18-paned glazing bar sashes to right. Early C19 canted bay projection immediately to left of centre has 3 six-paned sash windows and dentilled cornice below parapet. Sandstone ashlar conservatory attached to right with plain pilasters separating windows and flanking projecting entrance is also early C19. Flanking single-storey 3-bay projections to either end are also C19, left with 15-paned glazing bar sashes and right with French casement to left and 2 large blind windows, painted in imitation to right. C19 terrace to south front between projecting wings has semi-circular bow to each end and central flight of 9 steps. Square sandstone piers, those to steps with urns, and cast-iron vase-shaped balusters. Interior. Much altered in C19 and to lesser extent in C20 but retains original double- pile plan on first and second floors. Original open-well staircase in rear left corner of main range, rising to second floor. 3 twisted balusters to each tread, moulded handrail (ramped to newels), carved open string and panelled dado. Back staircase with turned balusters probably also C18. Left ground-floor room has C18 plaster ceiling and fluted Ionic pilasters flanking entrance from it into front centre room. Room behind also has plaster ceiling and Corinthian pilasters; plaster friezes and cornices also to these rooms. First-and second-floor rooms, approached off full- length corridor, have panelled doors and window shutters. Occasional plain moulded stone fireplaces and Coalbrookdale cast-iron grates. Wide boarded floor boards. Original kitchens and former wine cellars in semi-basement. Stable block (left projecting wing) has several loose-boxes, those with ball finials to wooden posts probably C18. Staircases also C18, flight from first floor to attic with turned balusters and moulded handrail. When the terrace was built in C19 it replaced a flight of steps leading up to central entrance and blocked the semi-basement windows. The attribution to Francis Smith is on stylistic grounds. A pair of C18 gate piers with contemporary wrought-iron gates, which lay to the west of the house, have now been removed. B.O.E. pp. 138-9; CL (15th June 1918), XLIII, 550; Peter Reid, Burke's and Savills Guide to Country Houses, Vol. II (1980), pp. 90-1; Francis Leach, The Country Seats of Shropshire (1891), p. 359 ff.

Listing NGR: SJ3756934241

External Links

• Wikidata Q17541243

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