Description

NOTTINGHAM

SK53SW HOLGATE, Clifton
646-1/9/281 Clifton Hall
14/04/54
(Formerly Listed as:
CLIFTON
Clifton Hall)

GV I

Country house, now university offices. Late C16, altered
c1632, probably by John Smythson. Internal alterations late
C17, and c1731-62, probably with the assistance of Lord
Burlington. Remodelled c1779 by John Carr of York. Further
alterations C19. Converted 1953. Brick and ashlar with hipped
stone slate roofs. Various coped stacks, mostly on side walls.
EXTERIOR: main ranges have plinth, first floor band and
pierced balustrade. Windows are mainly glazing bar sashes with
projecting ashlar surrounds, the second floor windows are
smaller.
3 storeys; 15 x 5 bays. C-plan. Symmetrical fronts to an
irregular interior, with central octagonal hall flanked to
left by a first floor Great Chamber. Square wings, the
principal rooms to left, service rooms to right.
Entrance front, to south, has a recessed centre, 5 windows,
flanked by wings of the same size, linked across the centre by
a single storey colonnade of paired Tuscan columns. Several
false windows in the centre, which screens the central hall.
Under the colonnade, an off-centre door, and at each end,
round-arched doors. Wings have similar fenestration, with
unequal spacing to left.
West front, by Carr, ashlar, has a central bow window, 3
storeys, with round-arched windows to the ground floor, and
reglazed first floor windows. Side bays have blank ground
floor, and single windows above.
North front has 7 windows, unequally spaced and some false,
and a doorway in the fifth bay. To left, a square projection,
2 storeys with quoins and parapet, containing the main stair.
Pedimented doorcase to west, Venetian stair window to north.
North front has 4 windows, several reglazed, and altered
porch.
INTERIOR: octagonal hall, c1731-62, 2 storeys, has modillion
cornice and panelled domed ceiling with arabesques. 3
pedimented doorcases with columns, 4 niches with statues,
marble fireplace. Under the cornice, 4 Diocletian windows and
4 half-round plasterwork panels by Dugdale.
Morning room, to left, early C18, fully panelled, with
strapwork ceiling and Rococo marble fireplace with portrait
medallion supported by cherubs. Great Chamber, c1632, has
framed panelling and polychrome marble chimneypiece, probably
by Smythson. Decorated strapwork frieze, C17, and strapwork
ceiling, probably C19. Panelled ground floor room on north
side, early C18, has 4 doorcase and overmantel with broken
pediments, marble fireplace, and panelled ceiling.
Main stairwell has moulded cornice and stone open well stair,
C19, with wrought-iron balustrade.
West wing has on the first floor a panelled pages' room, early
C17, with a rare decorative scheme showing military drill, and
frieze with the 7 Deadly Sins. Doorcase with columns, vine
trail and heraldic crest, C16, resited. Bedroom, panelled,
with foliage plaster frieze and lobed panelled ceiling with
monograms. Probably by Goudge for Sir William Clifton,
c1684-86.
Stone cantilever stair with winders and crinoline balustrade,
c1779, posssibly by Carr. 3 panelled rooms at the west end by
Carr, 2 with Adam style friezes and overdoors, and 6-panel
doors.
The history of this building is complex and is not fully
understood.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Nottinghamshire: London:
1979-: 270-272; Conference handbook, 1989, Soc. of Architect.
Hists. of GB: Hewlings R: Nottingham: 1989-: 68-71).

Listing NGR: SK5403434842

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q5133221

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

• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)