Netherseal Old Hall and attached outbuildings and garden walls

Netherseal Old Hall and attached outbuildings and garden walls

House with attached outbuildings and garden walls, built in phases: 1642, early 18th century and 1751, with additions and alterations of 1853, late 19th century and 1908.

The main early 18th-century house is constructed of ashlar with stone dressings on a chamfered stone plinth, beneath a plain tile roof with moulded stone coped gables on plain kneelers. It features a large external gable stack with brick pots and coved eaves cornice. The mid-18th-century wing attached to the north is of red brick on a blue brick plinth with brick and stone dressings, plain tile roof hipped at the south end, large brick ridge and gable stacks, and a dentilled eaves band. The 1908 wing, attached to the west of the mid-18th-century wing, is red brick with blue brick headers on a blue brick plinth, with stone dressings, plain tile roof, moulded stone coped gables, brick gable stacks and a stepped eaves band. The building is two storeys plus attics with an irregular plan.

The early 18th-century part to the south comprises three bays. The entrance features a moulded, shouldered and chamfered doorcase with moulded cornice and pulvinated frieze, topped by a later raised stone inscribed 'E J 1751'. A square-sectioned mullion and transom cross window in a raised moulded surround with moulded sill stands to the north, while to the south are two similar windows. Above the southern window is a stone inscribed 'I M M 1642'. The first floor has three similar windows, and above that a hipped roof dormer with two-light casement window.

The mid-18th-century part to the north has a two-storey canted bay addition of 1853 to its southern end. This bay features a moulded first-floor stone band inscribed 'Every house is builded by some man, but he that buildeth all things is God' and a moulded stone cornice inscribed 'H H 1853', with brick parapets above. The ground floor has two-light ovolo moulded mullion windows to the angled walls, and the front wall has a similar three-light window with adjoining single lights on the angled walls. Beyond to the north, the mid-18th-century house has a 19th-century recessed and chamfered stone cross window with coloured glass roundels in the top lights, and a segment-headed timber cross window further north. Above are a similar window to the north and a 19th-century stone two-light mullion window with pointed lights to the south. Two hipped roof dormers stand above.

The 1908 wing, set at right angles to the north, has a four-centred arched doorcase with an 18th-century panelled door to the east and a four-light mullion window to the west. Above the door is a single-light window with dripmould and moulded sill, and to the west a four-light oriel mullioned window with adjoining single lights to either side.

The garden elevation of the early 18th-century part mirrors the main elevation, but includes two recessed and chamfered two-light mullion basement windows and three hipped roof dormers. To the north stands an advanced ashlar two-bay section with 19th-century windows to the east elevation, two adjoining plain sashes in moulded surround to the south, and a five-light mullioned and transomed canted bay window to the north, with a three-light mullion window and timber cross window above. The south elevation of this section has a plain sash in a moulded early 18th-century surround at ground floor and a timber cross window over.

Attached to the west of the 1908 wing are various early 18th-century and early 19th-century brick outbuildings. Early 18th-century red brick garden walls with vitrified headers and chamfered stone copings are attached to either side of these outbuildings.

At the north end of the northern wall stands a small gabled early 18th-century garden pavilion with diaper work to the back wall. At the south corner of the southern wall is an arched stone doorcase. The southern wall extends for approximately 140 metres to the east and has two sets of stone gate piers with segmental coping stones, one dated 1868 and the other dated 1908.

The interior contains one complete early 18th-century panelled room with its original fireplace, cornice and overmantel painting depicting the house and garden as they then appeared. Several mid-18th-century panelled rooms survive, including the drawing room, which features inset wall cupboards with mirrored backs and open scalloped shelves, and a re-set 17th-century splat baluster staircase. Other rooms were mostly refashioned in the early 20th century: the dining room contains 19th-century linenfold panelling from Drakelow Hall, and the main staircase is a 17th-century style Edwardian staircase. Near the kitchen, a mid-18th-century open well staircase has been much altered. At its base is a re-set early 18th-century panelled door with an 18th-century painting on the back.