Snaith Hall

Snaith Hall

A small country house built around 1829 for William Shearburn, a prominent local attorney. The building exemplifies local Neo-Classical architecture and underwent later 19th-century additions including an extension, verandah and conservatory.

The main structure is constructed in magnesian limestone ashlar with a Westmorland slate roof. The later extension is finished in stuccoed brick, incised in imitation of ashlar, with ashlar dressings and slate roof. A cast-iron verandah with glass and corrugated iron roof was added to the garden front.

The plan comprises a double-depth arrangement with a 2-room central entrance hall on the principal north front, a large central stairhall, and a 2-room central entrance hall to the south garden front, with a single-room extension to the east. A conservatory adjoins the south-east corner.

The north front rises 2 and 3 storeys with a basement and displays 3 bays in a symmetrical arrangement. A central pedimented 3-storey bay breaks forward with a projecting porch flanked by 2-storey side bays. The chamfered plinth and angle pilasters support a flight of 3 stone steps leading to a moulded plinth carrying a Doric porch. The porch is flanked by pairs of columns with single columns to the sides and pilasters flanking the door, topped by a plain entablature with mutules, moulded cornice and flat hood. Half-glazed double doors, each with 6 panes above single panels, have a 4-pane overlight in a wooden architrave and reveal with keyed ashlar architrave. The side bays feature single basement sashes with glazing bars and 12-pane ground-floor sashes with keyed lintels and sills with recessed panels below. A moulded first-floor string course divides the storeys. Smaller 12-pane first-floor sashes sit beneath wedge lintels. The central bay contains small ground- and first-floor casements to its left return and a 12-pane sash to the second storey beneath the pediment. Boldly-moulded cornices crown the side bays. The roof is double-span and hipped. Pairs of large lateral stacks on the east and west elevations display moulded string courses, modillioned cornices and blocking courses. Single-flue stacks with similar cornices flank the central pediment.

The south garden front rises 2 storeys across 5 bays. It has a chamfered plinth and angle pilasters, with steps leading to a glazed door with sidelight and overlight in a plain reveal, flanked by plate-glass sashes in reveals with keyed lintels, sills and recessed panels below. A full-length ground-floor verandah has a Minton tiled floor and is supported by 6 cast-iron octagonal columns with plain moulded bases and capitals. The verandah roof is tented with cast-iron guttering and some glazed panels. A moulded first-floor string course and 12-pane sashes match those of the north front, with a similar cornice above. A large central stack features recessed panels and a cornice.

The west elevation includes a ground-floor bay window with plinth, moulded sill, a 3-light sash to the front and single-lights to the sides in wooden architraves, plus a single first-floor window. The east elevation has partly-projecting lateral stacks and a 2-storey extension in matching style, incorporating a basement door to the north, a ground-floor door to the east, sashes with glazing bars, an ashlar frieze, eaves cornice, pediment and half-conical roof.

The interior features a flagged entrance hall with a Doric screen to the stairhall, comprising a pair of columns and pilasters with egg-and-dart capitals carrying a plain entablature continued as a frieze. The fine stairhall contains an open well cantilevered stone staircase with a wreathed handrail and tapered column balusters with bold capitals, clustered newel and moulded dado rail. The upper hall, rising to the second storey, has a round-headed niche to the south flanked by a pair of internal windows containing good marble busts of Shearburn and his wife dated to 1846. A balustraded landing is framed by Doric screens to the east and west, each with pairs of square columns carrying an entablature with a boldly-projecting cornice. The top stage has pairs of pilasters flanking east and west windows, entablature and a boldly-moulded ceiling rose. The garden entrance hall has a moulded cornice and a mid- to late 19th-century Gothic-style oak fireplace. The south-west room retains an original leaf-and-dart cornice and a twin-pilastered marble chimney-piece. The south-east room displays a moulded cornice, pilastered marble chimney-piece and an ornate late 19th-century frieze. Other main rooms feature cornices with plain stone and marble chimney-pieces. The first-floor south-east room contains an early 19th-century Adam-style chimney-piece with ornate composition ornament. A secondary staircase has a closed string, ramped moulded handrail, plain balusters and a column newel. The basement incorporates vaulted cellars.

William Shearburn (1792–1846) was a prominent local attorney. The building was partly disused at the time of resurvey.