Lemmington Hall Sacred Heart Convent

Lemmington Hall, originally a country house built around 1750 for Nicholas Fenwick, incorporates a 15th-century tower house of the Beadnell family. Late 18th-century alterations were carried out by William Newton, and the building fell into ruin by the late 19th century before being restored in 1913 for Sir Stephen Aitchison. It was subsequently converted into a convent in 1947. The house is constructed of tooled ashlar, with the tower of squared stone, and has a graduated Lakeland slate roof.

The plan features ranges arranged around a small court, open to the north-east, with the tower incorporated into the north-east end of the south-east range.

The south-east elevation is of two storeys and nine bays, with the central bay projecting and the two end bays on either side set back. A high plinth rises to a ground-floor sill band. A panelled double door with sidelights is sheltered by five semicircular steps, topped with a stone cornice and radial fanlight within a triple-keyed archivolt and broken pediment. Above the door are three windows, the outer ones narrower. Ground-floor windows are 12-pane sashes, while upper windows are 6-pane sashes, all within architraves. The ground-floor windows feature swell friezes and cornices, with pediments except in the set-back outer sections. A moulded and modillioned eaves cornice and a central pediment complete the elevation. A parapet runs behind, extending over the pediment, with urn finials at the angles. Two irregularly placed corniced stacks are present.

A projecting three-bay, pedimented wing of 1913, in a similar style, is on the left return. The right return displays a large stepped buttress from 1913, revealing the exposed masonry of the 15th-century tower house, alongside 20th-century windows (utilising imported medieval materials) and an embattled parapet. An imposing early 20th-century round-arched entrance and a Venetian window are on the rear wing, set back to the right. The right return of the tower shows early 20th-century traceried first-floor windows.

The interior incorporates features from around 1913, reusing stair balustrades, doors, architraves, and window seats sourced primarily from London’s Camelford House, Park Lane. Other woodwork, including panelling in the chapel, originates from a chateau at Bar-le-duc, France. The tower retains a barrel-vaulted basement and a newel stair in the south turret. A first-floor chamber, now a chapel, has a re-set roll-moulded 16th-century fireplace hidden behind the reredos, and a mural chamber with an oubliette.

A 20th-century glazed front porch, a single-storey extension to the south-west, and a later north-west extension linking to outbuildings are not considered to be of significant interest.