Laxton Hall and Attached Steps and Balustrade, Laxton, North Northamptonshire

Description

SP 99 NE,
4/156

LAXTON,
LAXTON PARK,
Laxton Hall and attached steps and balustrade

(Formerly listed as Laxton Hall, Blackfriars School)

23.05.67

G.V.

II*

Country house, now a residential home. Probably late C18, possibly by W.D. Legg
of Stamford for George, third Baron Carbery. Enlarged and remodelled 1806-9 by
Humphry Repton and William Carter with internal works by George Dance the
younger, Francis Bernasconi and Westmacott; for George Freke Evans. Modified mid
C19 for George, Seventh Baron Carbery. Squared coursed limestone with ashlar
facades and Welsh slate roof. Double pile. 2 and 3 storeys with basement.
Entrance front of 9-window range. Centre 3 bays break forward with a pediment
over; originally an open porte cochere, enclosed mid C19. Central, panelled,
door with bracketed pediment over. C19 sash windows with moulded stone
architraves. Plain pilasters between bays are proud of the cornice line. The
return walls of the porch are similar one and a half bays. The half bay adjacent
to the main range formed part of the original porte cochere. The 3-window ranges
flanking the porch have sash windows with glazing bars, moulded stone
architraves and aprons below cills. The ground floor windows have moulded
cornices over. The basement plinth is squared coursed limestone with inverted
relieving arches below each window. Raised band between floors, moulded cornice
and hipped roof behind plain parapet. Ashlar stacks at ridge and at ends. A
rainwater head is dated 1811. Basement walls to left and right of centre have
retaining walls with balustrade, attached to main house all c.1850. Elevation,
to right of entrance front, is a 6-window range, similar to the flanking bays of
the entrance front. French window to left of centre has similar moulded stone
architraves as other windows. Elevation to left of entrance front has a one bay
ashlar return, to right, with a large blank recessed panel at ground and first
floor. 4-window range to centre and left is squared coursed limestone with sash
windows, under gauged stone heads. Service wing and attached chapel at Laxton
Hall (q.v.) attached to south-east of this elevation. Garden front, to rear of
entrance front, is a 3 storey, 11-window range. Centre 3 bays break forward as a
semi-circular bay; flanking 2 bays to far left and right also break forward.
Tall French doors at ground floor and sash windows, with glazing bars, to first
and second floors; reducing in height at second floor. All have plain ashlar
surround. Chamfered plinth with casement windows to basement. Moulded cornice
with plain parapet above. Central flight of steps with ashlar parapet walls.
Interior: Entrance Hall c.1811 by George Dance the younger rising through 2
storeys. Lower walls are horizontally-chanelled ashlar and upper walls are
plastered. Opposite to the entrance is a wide semi-circular arch with an open
colonnade, of 4 Ionic columns, above. Ironwork balustrade, between columns, was
designed by William Carter and made by John Baker. The centre of the hall is
formed into a square by a broad segmental arch adjacent to the entrance wall.
Above is a circular lantern, the pendentives are decorated with wreaths and the
central drum is formed of tall windows. The central passage to the rear of the
Entrance Hall has a segmental ceiling with lozenge panels. The staircase, to the
left of the centre passage, has cantilevered stone treads rising around
rectangular open well; with an iron balustrade designed by Carter and made by
Baker. Plaster cornice, coffered ceiling and rectangular lantern. The secondary
stair to the left of the stair hall, has stone treads, a plain iron balustrade,
by Baker, and rises around a narrow rectangular well. A semi-circular lobby to
the right of the central passage is separated from the passage by 2 unfluted
Doric columns. The lobby is lit by an iron fanlight from a semi-circular
stairwell above, rising from first to second floor. This stair has a handrail
similar to the main stair. The Dining Room, to the left of the Entrance Hall
has a mid/late C19 black marble fireplace, six-panel reeded oak doors and a
plaster cornice by Francis Bernasconi. There are large piers in the corners
adjacent to the Entrance Hall. The Music Room, now the Sitting Room, to the
right of the Entrance Hall, is similar to the Dining Room but with a white
marble fireplace by Westmacott decorated with 2 female musicians in Grecian
dress. The South Drawing Room, now a dining room, to the left of the stair hall
has a white marble fireplace, with detached columns, and a ceiling decoration by
Bernasconi. The Drawing Room, now a chapel, to the right of the central passage,
is similar to the Music Room with a white marble fireplace carved with a Bacchic
thyrsus; lizard and butterfly. An octagonal lobby between the Drawing Room and
the Music Room has a domed ceiling. The Library to the centre of the garden
front was created from existing rooms, c.1810, by Carter. The centre room has
a semi-circular bow. The reveals to the opening between the flanking rooms are
ashlar faced. There are 2 identical fireplaces by Westmacott, with rams head
decoration, and ceiling decoration by Bernasconi. The first floor rooms have
plain classical and Grecian cornices and plain C19 fireplaces. Some first floor
rooms have been subdivided. The basement rooms have barrel vaulted and groined
ceilings, the centre room, under the Library, has a central column. Laxton Hall
passed from the Staffords of Blatherwyke to the Evans family in 1720 and was
later occupied by the Barons Carbery of the same family. Susan Lady Carbery
married George Freke Evans in 1806, her first husband's cousin. He employed
Repton to extend and remodel the house; Repton was dismissed in 1808, following
a dispute, and the works were completed by William Carter the surveyor. The
works, to the main house, carried out at this time included the construction of
the entrance front and the remodelling and refacing of the garden front. Lord
Carbery sold the house about 1895, in 1924 it became Blackfriars School and in
1968 a residential Did peoples home.
(Buildings of England: Northamptonshsire: p289; RCHM: An Inventory of
Architectural Monuments in North Northamptonshire: p109; Northamptonshire
Records Office; Freke Evans (Laxton) Collection and Architectural Drawings
Collection)

Listing NGR: SP9597997065

External Links

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