Description

SOMERLEYTON SOMERLEYTON PARK
TM 49 NE
4/50 Somerleyton Hall
GV II*
Mansion. Small C16 core; rebuilt 1844 by John Thomas for Sir Morton Peto.
Red brick with stone dressings. Slated roof. Principally in the Jacobean
style. Mainly 2 storeys with attics. Entrance front. 9-bay centre with
flanking projecting wings of 5 bays (left) and 3 bays (right): large paned
cross windows with quoined stone surrounds. Cornice and flat parapet, broken
in the centre by the Crossley family arms. Shaped end gables to wings.
Across the centre a single-storey stone loggia of French Renaissance
derivation with semi-circular headed windows, 2 open arches and an
elaborately-carved projecting porch with cupola. Heavy entrance door with
moulded panels. Various stacks with groups of detached octagonal shafts. Set
back to the left is a tall square Italianate tower with pierced stone parapet
surmounted by urns. Garden front. Symmetrical, in 11 bays arranged
1:4:1:4:1; windows as entrance front but with solid stone surrounds. Wide 3-
storey end bays, enriched by engaged square columns and with 2-storey 5-light
canted bay windows. Central 3-storey stone porch, open to the ground floor
and with a first floor oriel window; superimposed orders of enriched engaged
square columns. Pierced stone parapet broken by a range of 8 hooded dormers
and by coats of arms on the end bays. Interior. Panelled entrance hall, the
panels infilled with marble and framed by 12 carved oak columns; dome with
stained glass panels of local game birds. The staircase hall has a heavy
panelled ceiling carried on console brackets; heavy well stair of oak, with
turned balusters and square newel posts. In the main drawing room (now called
the ballroom) an ornate panelled ceiling in Jacobean style and opposing marble
statuary fireplaces. The adjacent Oak Parlour contains some good woodwork re-
used from the old house: late C17 panelling, early C18 carved doorcases and
boldly-carved overmantel frieze and drops in the style of Gibbons. 2 carved
doorcases and matching fireplace in the Dining Room may also be re-used C18
work. The present library was formed c.1920 when the 2-storey Banqueting Hall
was floored over: this is the only major spatial alteration to the interior.
For a fuller description, especially of the interior, see Somerleyton An
Illustrated Guide (public guidebook); Connoisseur December 1962 pp.209-215.
The surrounding park and gardens are included in the HBMC County Register of
Gardens at Grade II*.

Listing NGR: TM4928397769

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Somerleyton Hall at Wikipedia
• Somerleyton Hall official website
• Wikidata Q7559760

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)