Quenby Hall

Quenby Hall is a mansion of the early 17th century, dated 1621 and 1630, possibly raised slightly in the 18th century, with restoration undertaken around 1905 by the architects G. Bodley and J.A. Gotch.

The building is constructed of red brick diapered with dark blue brick on the west front, with stone plinth, quoins, dressings, moulded bands, and parapetted bitumen roofs with brick and stone stacks, some projecting. The plan is H-shaped with an entrance front measuring approximately 36 metres. The façade comprises 3 storeys and a basement, containing 11 stone mullion and transom windows including 5 full-height canted bays. From left to right, the fenestration comprises: a 6-light canted bay; two 2-lights on the wing inner return; a 6-light canted bay; a 2-light; a 10-light canted bay; a 2-light; a 6-light canted bay; two 2-lights on the wing inner return; and a 6-light canted bay. Similar windows appear on the ground floor. The entrance is marked by a central rectangular porch supporting a bay above. The stone doorway features a moulded rounded arch and rusticated jambs, with a 2-leaved panelled door accessed by a wide flight of stone steps. Above the doorway runs an entablature encircling the porch, with a stone pedestal and ball marking the angle where the bay becomes canted. A stone tablet above bears the coat of arms of the Ashby family with an inscription referring to the 6th year of Charles I (1630). Basement windows are 2-lights, some blocked. On the second floor, the bay fronts have 3-light windows; elsewhere windows are 2-lights, except for the central bay, which is taller. Here a 1-light appears on the canting with a 2-light set 1.5 storeys above. A clock face in a diamond-shaped frame sits over this, and above the parapet stands a 19th-century stone bellcote and bell. The right front is shorter and without bays. The rear front is similar to the entrance front.

The interior is exceptionally fine. The hall contains a screens passage with a decorated wooden screen featuring columns and rusticated arches. The fireplace displays an 18th-century pediment with arms of the de Lisle family, brought from Garendon Hall near Loughborough. The Brown Parlour retains early 17th-century panelling with tiers of blank arches, said to have been brought in during the later 18th century, along with a stone fireplace. The Library features a rich plaster ceiling. An oak well staircase with turned balusters ascends through the house. The Great Parlour, now a ballroom, contains a magnificent fireplace with columns, pilasters, grotesques, strapwork and a central coat of arms; this piece stood in the hall below for a century before Gotch restored it to its original position. An early 20th-century ceiling and 17th-century panelling from other rooms have been introduced. Further rich plasterwork friezes, panelling and overmantels adorn other rooms. The Library contains a stone fireplace by Edward Welby Pugin of 1864, also brought from Garendon Hall. The Sitting Room holds a later 18th-century carved marble fireplace. A further oak staircase with turned balusters is present. The Dining Room windows feature stained glass panels bearing the arms of the Ashby family and allied families.

Quenby Hall was built for George Ashby and is dated on a rainwater head to 1621. The Ashby family and their descendants owned the estate from the 13th century to 1904. The house has recently become the seat of the de Lisle family, formerly of Garendon Hall near Loughborough. Stilton cheese was first made at Quenby. The building is regarded as the most important house in the Elizabethan-Jacobean style in the county.