Foremark Hall

Foremark Hall is a country house, now a school, located in the parish of Foremark off Milton Road on the south side.

The building dates from the early 18th century and was extensively altered and enlarged in 1759-61 by architect David Hiorns, with Joseph Pickford probably serving as contractor. It was built for the Burdette family. The design follows the Palladian style and is constructed in sandstone ashlar with hipped Welsh slate roofs and octagonal lead domes. The building has four lateral and four ridge stacks, a rusticated basement, piano nobile, attic storey and roof attics, with a dentil cornice and balustraded parapet.

The north elevation contains 3-7-3 bays and features a giant portico of four unfluted Ionic columns. Double returned balustraded staircases lead up to the main entrance. The podium has a central round-arched entrance to the basement, flanked by similar blind arches, with two glazing bar sashes on each side behind the staircases. The main entrance has a pedimented eared architrave and glazed double doors, flanked on each side by glazing bar sashes in pedimented architraves, then by two further glazing bar sashes in eared architraves. Seven smaller glazing bar sashes appear above in eared architraves, with four roof dormers above. Canted bays on each side are domed and advanced, featuring three tiers of glazing bar sashes with small casement windows above the cornice.

The south elevation has 3-2-3-2-3 bays, with the three-bay parts advanced. A dentilled pediment tops the centre three bays. The outer canted bays match those on the north front. The rusticated basement has a central podium with curved double returned staircase, a central round-arched doorway flanked by lunette windows set in blind round-arched openings, and two glazing bar sashes on each side. The piano nobile features a central pedimented Corinthian doorcase with raised and fielded panelled doors, flanked on each side by three glazing bar sashes in moulded architraves. Seven smaller glazing bar sashes appear above in moulded architraves, with roof attic windows matching the north front.

Both north and south fronts have similar curved wing walls with round-arched niches flanking a pedimented and rusticated round-arched doorway. These are linked to four small single-storey pavilions, square in plan with shallow hipped Welsh slate roofs. Each pavilion front has an advanced and pedimented centre bay with doorways, glazing bar sashes and blind round-arched niches.

A half H-plan service wing is attached to the east by a Doric colonnade. Its south elevation has 1-3-1 bays with the centre part advanced and pedimented. The ground floor has a central doorway with 20th-century doors, flanked on each side by two glazing bar sashes, with five 20th-century casements above. The east elevation shows 2-6-2 bays with the end pairs projecting, mostly with sashes. A five-bay north elevation features two tiers of glazing bar sashes.

The interior retains significant early 18th-century features. The entrance hall runs the full depth of the house, with end bays defined by two composite columns and a moulded cornice. A pair of early to mid-18th-century stone chimneypieces survive. Late 18th-century plasterwork includes round-arched niches with Corinthian pilasters and early 19th-century gothick glazed doors. Four doorways on the side walls have moulded eared architraves of early to mid-18th-century character, while doorways at each end feature carved friezes and bracketed cornices.

The rooms to the east have dentil cornices and a variety of chimneypieces. The north-east room retains a re-used chimneypiece of circa 1730 with eared surround, carved overmantle and broken pediment. The south-east room displays later 18th-century plasterwork and chimneypieces. The staircase hall to the west contains an open-string staircase around a square well with carved tread ends and three knopped turned balusters per tread. The staircase has fluted newels, a wreathed and ramped handrail, and the upper landing features a four-bay round-arched arcade. The drawing room fills the west side of the house with elegant later 18th-century style plasterwork and two chimneypieces, unequally divided by a pair of fluted composite columns. Upper rooms have moulded cornices, dado rails, plain eared architraves and a variety of chimneypieces.

The basement contains a central vaulted corridor running the full width, with rooms off having groin vaults supported by Tuscan Doric columns.