Scawby Hall

Scawby Hall is a country house of largely 17th-century date, reputedly begun around 1603, with an early 18th-century south front and later alterations extending into the 19th century. Built for the Nelthorpe family, it represents a significant example of domestic architecture spanning three centuries.

The main structure is constructed of red brick with coursed limestone rubble and brick dressings to the kitchen wing and outhouses. The roofs are slate and pantile. The building is arranged approximately square on plan with a courtyard, a kitchen wing extending to the north, and adjoining stables and coach-house to the north-west. A north-east range of 1913 links the kitchen wing with earlier outhouses.

The south garden front presents the most accomplished composition: two storeys with attic, arranged as 2:3:2 bays with a 3-bay central range flanked by 2-bay gabled wings. A moulded plinth runs across the base. The central entrance bay projects forward and contains a former entrance with a 15-pane full-length sash in a door-case of around 1720. The door-case features a bollection-moulded eared architrave flanked by panelled pilasters and carved acanthus brackets supporting a moulded cornice. Recessed ground-floor 12-pane sashes light the central range, while full-length 15-pane sashes serve the wings. A 4-course brick band with cyma-reversa moulded lower course marks the first floor. First-floor sashes number 12 panes to the centre (with hollow-moulded architrave) and the outer bays. Unequal 9-pane sashes light the attic storey to the wings. All windows feature projecting sills and rubbed-brick flat arches; plain blind boxes mask the recesses to ground and first floors. Windows to the inner returns of the wings are blocked. A bold wooden modillion eaves cornice crowns this front, with rainwater heads at the angles decorated with the Nelthorpe arms in relief. The gables are raised and tumbled brick with shaped kneelers. Large external stacks to both left and right returns each carry a brick band at first-floor level and brick-coped gables with shaped kneelers; the stacks themselves are square with offset bases and diamond-shafted corniced chimneys (four to the right, two to the left).

The east principal entrance front forms the right return of the building. This presents two storeys across five bays, with a 3-storey gabled porch positioned right of centre, flanked by an external stack to the left and a full-height canted bay to the right. A 2-storey and attic gabled section with a 2-storey 5-bay wing and a 2-storey gabled kitchen range set back to the right complete this elevation. Beyond lies the kitchen wing with stables and outbuildings. A moulded plinth runs beneath. The porch features a recessed 6-beaded-panel door beneath a dentilled cornice with a 3-pane overlight, flanked by a wrought-iron lamp bracket and torch extinguisher. First and second-floor sashes to the porch contain 6 panes in arched heads; blocked openings appear to the left and right returns. The main range has single 12-pane sashes to ground and first floors flanking the porch; the canted bay displays tripartite sashes with glazing bars. A 3-course brick band marks the first floor. A slightly projecting 2-storey gabled section to the left has a projecting gabled stack. The porch carries a raised brick-coped gable with stepped and dentilled brick eaves cornice to its returns. Stone-coped crenellations crown the main range, with raised and tumbled brick gables beyond. A projecting stack to the right return carries first and second-floor bands with a corniced shaft.

The range to the right divides into three sections. The left gabled section displays tripartite sashes with glazing bars to each floor beneath a first-floor band and raised tumbled brick gable. The central section has 12-pane sashes beneath flat arches, a first-floor band, and a stepped and cogged brick eaves cornice. The right gabled section features quoins, two unequal 15-pane ground-floor sashes, two unequal 9-pane first-floor sashes in flush wooden architraves beneath rubbed-brick flat arches, and tumbled-in brick to the gable. Stacks to this range comprise a clustered diamond-shafted stack rebuilt around 1985 to the left, a square corniced axial stack to the central section, and a similar rebuilt stack to the right.

The west front presents two storeys with a 3-storey entrance porch and stair-turret to the left of centre, which incorporates a small contemporary outshut to its left and is flanked by projecting stacks. The porch contains a half-glazed door with margin lights over two fielded panels in an architrave beneath a flat arch, with 6-pane first and second-floor sashes in flush wooden architraves beneath flat arches. Raised and tumbled brick gables and a stepped and cogged brick eaves cornice to the porch returns and main range complete the composition. The stacks are similar to those on the east front, with first-floor bands, offsets, and corniced diamond shafts (three to the left, two to the right).

The interior contains remarkable survivals from the 17th and 18th centuries. The west stairhall features a fielded-panelled elliptical-arched recess with keyed archivolt. A fine early 18th-century open-well oak staircase displays a ramped and wreathed handrail with painted carved acanthus-scroll brackets, alternating column-on-bulb and twist-on-bulb balusters, one fluted and one plain newel column, and fielded-panel dado with moulded rail. The ground-floor south drawing room incorporates late 18th to early 19th-century details including reeded cornices, architraves, chimney-piece and overmantel, with a carved marble fire-surround.

The connecting east room preserves another fine early 18th-century open-well oak staircase with ramped handrail, carved bracketed string, panelled newel posts, and alternating column-on-vase and twist-on-vase balusters with round knops. The underside and dado are fielded-panelled with moulded rail. A moulded beam with ornate chamfer stops carries the floor above. Reeded cornices and architraves with lion's head motifs adorn the walls, and a reeded chimney-piece surround with dentilled cornice is flanked by arched alcoves.

A late 17th-century open-well back staircase to the north-east side features a closed string, corniced handrail, and vase-on-bulb balusters with round knops. The interior has not been fully investigated. Architectural drawings by C Nattes dating to 1795 are held in the Banks Collection at Lincoln City Library. The house is documented in N Pevsner and J Harris, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (1978, p 352), with photographs in the National Monuments Record.