Description

DEANSHANGER
SP74SW
6/89 Wakefield Lodge (that part in
01/12/51 Deanshanger C.P.)

GV II*

Hunting lodge/country house. c.1748-50 by William Kent for 2nd Duke of Grafton
with later C18 and C19 additions and alterations. Some additions demolished and
other alterations made 1946-48 by A.G.S. Butler for Mr. Norman See. Limestone
ashlar, slate roof, stone lateral and ridge stacks. 2 storeys, basement and,
attic; 7-window range. H-plan. Central 6-panel double-leaf doors with overlight
flanked by 15-pane sash windows with elliptical-arched heads. Single-storey
3-bay portico approached by curving double-arm balustraded stair. Tuscan columns
with strong entasis, balustrades between columns, plain entablature originally
with balustraded parapet, removed C20. Venetian windows to ground floor either
side of portico and to projecting wings with elliptical-arched heads, stone
balustrades and blank side panels. Central lst floor windows form tripartite
lunette-shaped composition with wide divisions. Lunettes either side and to
wings with blank side panels. Attic storeys to wings either end with open
pediments and 6-pane sashes with stone lintels. 5-bay attic between is an
addition of c.1840. Lunette windows to basement, plinth, sill bands, giant
dentilled cornice at 1st floor level, and band and moulded cornice at attic
floor level. 2-bay side elevations originally. Wings extended 1 bay to rear.
2-storey rendered brick addition to rear of main range. Mid C19 columned porch
to left side of rendered brick, and single storey C20 kitchen extension to rear
of left wing. Interior: 3-bay centre is filled by hall in the style of Inigo
Jones' Queen House with balustraded gallery on console brackets at 1st floor
level on all four sides. Stone-paved floor, large stone chimneypiece with spear
and intertwined bows to side piers and bear's head to left pier, badger's head
to right pier. Compartmented ceiling with Garter stair to central circular panel
and deep divisions with guilloche patterns. Circular stone cantilever staircase
in style of Queen's House and wrought-iron balustrade with S curves and mahogany
handrail. Original plasterwork ceilings to study and present billiard room,
probably original dining room. Drawing room and staircase to other side of hall
remodelled by A.G.S. Butler. Present dining room said to have been formerly
library with late C18 decoration, curved to one end with round-arched door
flanked by round-arched recesses; deep coved ceiling with simple plasterwork.
Original stone chimneypieces to study, billiard room and bedrooms. Stone-vaulted
basement below hall with basement rooms either end. Northamptonshire seat of the
Dukes of Grafton until 1936.
(Buildings of England: Northamptonshire: 1973, pp377-8; Country Life: August 2:
1973; Watkin, D., et al., A House in Town: 1984, pp24-5)

Listing NGR: SP7375242550

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q10719116

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

• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)