| Summary : Kirby Hall is country house in Gretton, Northamptonshire. Construction began in 1570 for Sir Humphrey Stafford and it was completed 1583 for Sir Christopher Hatton I. It was probably modified in the early 17th century for Sir Christopher Hatton II and altered in 1638-40 for Sir Christopher Hatton III. Built of squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof, the house is of a courtyard plan and two storeys with an attic. The entrance front, dating to 1638-40, is a thirteen window range. The centre three bays break forward and there are central arch-head openings to the rusticated ground and first storeys. That to the ground floor is flanked by niches. There are three second-floor windows and two similar openings above with a circular stone dial between. The centre three bays of each range flanking the porch break forward slightly. All ground floor windows have segmental arch heads, some with leaded casements and iron grilles. The first floor window openings are similar but have square heads. The end bays have arch-head door openings with balconies to the first floor and pediments above. There are the remains of a similar pedimented treatment to the centre of each range flanking the porch. The parapets to porch and flanking ranges have turned balusters. Attached to the ends of the entrance front are walls which form a forecourt to the house.During the 18th century Kirby Hall fell into decline and many of the contents were sold in 1772. Part of it remained inhabited, however, and was in occasional use by the end of the 19th century. In 1930 the Office of Works began to manage the property, after which time repairs were also carried out to the building so as to stabilise it. In 1998 some of the rooms were used in the filming of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. Kirby Hall is currently (2011) opened to the public by English Heritage. |
More information : [SP 9257 9269] KIRBY HALL [G.T.] (Remains of) [T.I.] (1)
Kirby Hall is in the care of the Ministry of Works who are at present engaged upon restoration.
GPs AO/61/138/7. Exterior from SE.
" " " " /8 " " SW.
" " "/139/1 Courtyard interior from NW
" " " "/2 " " " SW
" " " "/3 Aspect from NW (2)
History
KIRBY HALL was begun in 1570 for Sir Humphrey Stafford of Blatherwick, enlarged after Sir Humphrey's death in 1575 for Sir Christopher Hatton of Holdenby, and 'modernised' between 1638 and 1640 for Christopher Hatton, afterwards Baron Hatton of Kirby. The Hattons owned the Hall until 1764, when it passed from Elizabeth Hatton to her nephew, Edward Finch-Hatton, whose descendants, the Earls of Winchilsea and Nottingham, have retained the estate to the present day.
Description
The house lies in a secluded hollow. To the south runs a little stream, which formed the boundary of Sir Humphrey Stafford's property. South and west, on either side of the stream, were then a small village and a church or chapel. The approaches to the house were from Gretton on the north-west, from Deene on the east, and from the Deene-Gretton road on the south. This last approach led to the village, turned eastward, crossed the stream by the stone bridge which still remains, and skirted the east side of the orchard and house to join the east-west avenue. Sir Christopher Hatton acquired the land south of the stream before 1587, by exchange with Thomas Brudenell. Surveys made in 1585 and 1587 in the possession of the Earl of Winchilsea show the Hall, the church and village, and the road; but give no indication of any layout of the ground or of the avenues, traces of which still remain, leading northwards on the axes of the formal garden and the forecourt, and eastward on the axis of the two gateways in the forecourt. By the eighteenth century church and village had been swept away. The Ordinance Survey map of 1824 shows the main outlines of the gardens, and the great avenue of four lines of trees north of the garden. The east-west avenue, three-quarters of a mile in length, was cut down in 1873 or 1874.
The Design
The design carried out for Sir Humphrey Stafford is a striking proof of the extent to which classic influences were affecting not only the ornament but also the planning of English buildings. The picturesque 'functionalism' of mediaeval planning was giving way to the strictest symmetry. Only on the south is there an indication of an earlier habit of thought, where Thorpe has drawn as an afterthought a great semi-circular bay-window in the private lodgings which is not balanced by any similar projection in the kitchen wing. A detailed examination of the building seems to indicate that this original plan was more closely adhered to by Sir Humphrey Stafford than the present aspect of the house suggests. Probably the kitchens in the south-east were never completed according to the first plan; but the lapse from symmetry on the long west front of the house is due to later alterations. No documentary evidence has yet been found to prove the date at which they were made, but the probability is that they were ordered by the first Sir Christopher Hatton, who in spite of his earlier neglect of the house certainly visited it at times during the last ten years of his life. He is said to have built the stables, which lay to the north of the house, in 1590, though according to another account these were built in 1595. The Thorpe drawings, on the other hand, overlap the seventeenth century, and Henry Thorpe may have supervised the alterations for Sir Christopher II (1597-1619), who spent money lavishly on entertaining James I and his queen, and may well have added to the house to meet the demands of such hospitality. The evidence to be gleaned from the building itself is not conclusive. It is tempting to suggest that the first alterations to Kirby were carried out to the designs of Henry, the son of Thomas Thorpe. They showed the marked characteristics of many of the elevations in the Thorpe Collection but are not of quite the same character as the original building. (3-7)
Kirby Hall is country house in Gretton, Northamptonshire. Construction began in 1570 for Sir Humphrey Stafford and it was completed 1583 for Sir Christopher Hatton I. It was probably modified in the early 17th century for Sir Christopher Hatton II and altered in 1638-40 for Sir Christopher Hatton
III. Built of squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof, the house is of a courtyard plan and two storeys with an attic.
The entrance front, dating to 1638-40, is a thirteen window range. The centre three bays break forward and there are central arch-head openings to the rusticated ground and first storeys. That to the ground floor is flanked by niches. There are three second-floor windows and two similar openings above with a circular stone dial between. The centre three bays of each range flanking the porch break forward slightly. All ground floor windows have segmental arch heads, some with leaded casements and iron grilles. The first floor window openings are similar but have square heads. The end bays have arch-head door openings with balconies to the first floor and pediments above. There are the remains of a similar pedimented treatment to the centre of each range flanking the porch. The parapets to porch and flanking ranges have turned balusters. Attached to the ends of the entrance front are walls which form a forecourt to the house. (8)
During the 18th century Kirby Hall fell into decline and many of the contents were sold in 1772. Part of it remained inhabited, however and was in occasional use by the end of the 19th century. In 1930 the Office of Works began to manage the property. Repairs were also carried out to the building so as to stabilise, rather than reconstruct it. In 1998 some of the rooms were used in the filming of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. (9)
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