Catton Hall

Catton Hall is a country house built in 1741 and designed by William Smith for Christopher Horton. The building has undergone minor alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries, and a new wing was added in 1907 by Sir T G Jackson.

The main structure is built of red brick on an ashlar basement with gauged brick and stone dressings, and features a first floor stone band. The hipped roof is covered with graduated slate and has brick ridge stacks and a moulded stone cornice with blocking course. The building measures nine bays by seven bays with a double pile plan and comprises three storeys plus a basement.

The garden-facing main front has three centre bays that are slightly advanced, accessed by a flight of stone steps running across the full width. The basement level contains three original 18th-century glazing bar sash windows to the east side and two similar sashes to the west, though those on the west are largely encased by an added pathway. An early 19th-century bracketed stone balcony with a simple ironwork balustrade sits above the eastern basement windows. The ground floor features a central doorcase with a Tuscan columned design, a triglyphed frieze and dentilled pediment, fitted with 19th-century double-glazed doors. On either side are four full-height plain sashes with 19th-century pelmets, while the storey above has nine plain sashes and a further storey of nine two-light casement windows. All window openings are topped with flat gauged brick arches with stone keyblocks.

The north front has a centrally recessed five-bay section with stone steps leading to a central doorcase. At basement level, three 18th-century glazing bar sashes flank this section to the east, with two similar sashes to the west. Above the central doorway are double-glazed doors beneath a divided overlight, accompanied by a small pane cross window and three glazing bar sashes to the east, and two similar sashes plus a wide central window to the west. The upper storeys contain nine glazing bar sashes and, above that, seven similar sashes with two two-light casement windows. Like the main front, all openings have flat gauged brick arches with stone keyblocks. The east and west fronts feature similar fenestration patterns. The east front has an early 20th-century brick and stone porch to the centre, while the west front has three centre bays advanced. Three centre bays are also advanced on the west front.

The 1907 addition attached to the north-east corner is constructed of red brick with gauged brick dressings and features a steeply pitched hipped slate roof with belled eaves, a dentilled cornice and panelled brick ridge stacks. The south elevation of this wing includes a first-floor brick band with rusticated pilaster strips between bays, with flat pilasters above. The ground floor has four glazing bar sashes, above which are four similar windows with gauged brick aprons, all topped with flat brick arches. Above these are four large roof dormers with glazing bar sashes—those at either end have segmental pediments, while the central pair have triangular pediments.

The interior is of good quality and retains much original work. A wide open well staircase features turned balusters on closed strings, solid newels, a wreathed and ramped handrail, and dado panelling on the opposite wall. Above the landing is a plasterwork ceiling with a central eagle rose, and moulded semi-circular headed arches with large keystones crown the top of the stairs. The central entrance hall preserves an original fireplace with a pedimented overmantle, with a matching panel on the opposite wall; both are flanked by plasterwork sconces. The side walls have moulded shouldered doorcases with cornices, and the back wall features a similar pedimented doorcase with overdoors decorated with plaster musical instruments. The ceiling contains a grid of beams with moulded plasterwork. The drawing room to the west retains original panelling, shouldered doorcases with moulded cornices, and an early 19th-century marble fireplace with inlaid jasper to the jambs. The morning room to the east of the hall has original panelling, a fireplace with pedimented overmantle, cornicing and a doorcase. The present columned entrance hall is an early 19th-century arrangement.

The main first-floor bedrooms retain 18th-century cornicing, dado rails and fireplaces. A knopped baluster back staircase ascends to the second floor, originally continuing down to the basement. Two second-floor rooms contain 17th-century panelling, probably reused from an earlier house, along with 18th-century fireplaces. 17th-century panelling also appears in basement rooms.