House,With Wings,Stables And Collonades

Burley on the Hill: House, with Wings, Stables and Colonnades

A large country house built between 1694 and 1705 for Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, replacing an earlier house built by the 1st Duke of Buckingham that was destroyed during the Civil War. Although various names have been associated with the work, including John Lumley, it now appears probable that the Earl of Nottingham acted as his own architect, with Lumley and others serving as surveyors and master masons. The stable block from Buckingham's earlier house survived and was incorporated into the new design, possibly influencing its scale through its distance from the main house. The house, pavilions, stables, and their connecting colonnades form a unified Baroque composition with Palladian detailing.

The main house block is faced with ashlar Clipsham stone and measures 15 bays by 7. It features a rusticated basement with the ground floor raised as piano mobile and a first floor of equal height, topped by a lower attic storey, cornice, and balustrade. Rusticated angle quoins and sill courses are carried throughout. The principal elevations are arranged in the pattern 2-4-3-4-2, with slightly projecting outer wings. A pedimented central section dominates each front, containing a wide central doorway with lugged architrave, carved consoles, and foliate frieze beneath a curved broken pediment bearing a monogram and coronet. The doorway is approached by a wide curving flight of steps with fine wrought-iron balustrade. Above stands four engaged Corinthian columns spanning the first and second storeys, supporting a pediment that contains a coat of arms. The south front includes an additional single-storey corridor of 8 bays with rusticated basement and cornice, recessed to the left.

The side elevations comprise 7 bays arranged as 1-5-1, with the outer bays slightly projecting. A doorway is accessed by a double flight of curving steps with wrought-iron balustrade. Basement windows throughout are fitted with voussoirs and keystones; all other openings feature moulded architraves. All windows are sashes with glazing bars.

Short quadrant colonnades of 4 bays with Tuscan columns, triglyph and rosette frieze, and a cornice bearing urns extend from the north side of the house to link it with flanking pavilions. Each pavilion is faced with ashlar, has angle quoins, and is topped with a hipped slate roof. The pavilions are 2 storeys and 7 bays, featuring a central door in a plain architrave with moulded cornice above, and wood mullion and transom windows with plain architraves; ground floor openings have voussoirs. A short 4-bay colonnnade continues from these pavilions into the principal composition: a grandiose sweeping colonnnade of 13 bays with Tuscan columns, plain triglyph frieze, and piers marked with pronounced entasis. This line terminates at the stable blocks.

The eastern stable block survives from Buckingham's original house, remaining substantially as originally built but modified after a fire in 1705 and now lacking its original pedimented gables. It is constructed of coursed rubble with a hipped slate roof, is 2 storeys and measures 13 bays in the pattern 3-7-3. A central door sits within a round-arched opening with massively expressed voussoirs and keystone. Wood mullion and transom windows feature architraves, with a string course and moulded stone eaves cornice. The western block mirrors this exactly but has less depth.

The interior of the house was extensively gutted by fire in 1908 but was subsequently reconstructed. It contains numerous fine wood and plaster panelled rooms, notably the saloon and small drawing room. The dining room features a screen of detached columns at either end and an exquisite plaster ceiling and wall panels in the style of Adam, restored following the fire. The book room has been created from fine cases salvaged from the former library. The large entrance hall opens to a pedimented doorway into the saloon, with the staircase hall to its left. The early 18th-century staircase is a cantilevered wood openstring stair with turned balusters and carved risers. The walls and ceiling of the staircase hall bear paintings by Lanscroon dating to 1708-12, executed in darkly coloured, vigorously moulded classical mythological scenes. Upstairs, the Ballroom spans the width of the house and rises through 2 storeys, is galleried, and features fine plasterwork and woodwork; it was formerly painted but these paintings were lost in the fire. Throughout the house, the oak doors and brass door furniture are noteworthy.