Bosworth Hall

Bosworth Hall

Country house, now converted into two dwellings. The building comprises two distinct structural phases linked by a Victorian addition. The earliest part is Tudor in date, though it probably incorporates an even earlier core. The later part dates from around 1790. A Victorian Gothick wing of circa 1870 connects the two sections, added when the old hall was restored.

The old Tudor hall is constructed in brick with a plain tiled roof featuring cresting, both dating from the Victorian restoration. The principal facade presents a range of five gables, with the outer two projecting as wings. All sections rise to two-and-a-half storeys. The right-hand gable appears somewhat detached from the main range, suggesting it may have been reduced in size at some point in its history.

The right-hand gable contains three-light mullioned windows with small panes and stone architraves and hood moulds. All windows in the main facade are Victorian, though they may copy earlier originals. In the gable apexes are blind older windows with cambered brick heads and an oculus beneath. The three central gables are similarly detailed, with older window heads visible in the attics and stone mullioned windows below. Some of these windows contain armorial glass medallions in the leaded glazing dating from the 18th to 19th centuries. Two further windows at first-floor level sit beneath the outer gables.

The principal entrance doorway, positioned to the left of the central gable, is a round-headed arch with stone architrave and hood moulds in Victorian Gothick style. A second similar doorway, now blocked and converted to a window, appears in the right-hand gable, also in Gothick style. To the left, a further gable was added around 1870. This features a large ground-floor window with mullions and transoms, containing armorial glass, with a stone hood mould and brick relieving arch. The upper window is pierced through an ashlar architrave, and the brickwork displays polychrome decoration.

In the rear wall of the right-hand gabled wing, a queen post and strut truss is visible. Set back from this is an additional rear wing serving as a continuation of the second gable, also containing traces of timber framing. A further wing projects at right angles on the side elevation, constructed of old brickwork with dark headers, possibly part of the original structure. This contains three-light wood mullioned windows. Axial chimney stacks rise from the old hall.

A Victorian Gothick bay with triple lancets pierced in an ashlar architrave links the old hall to the Georgian block. This range faces south-east and rises massively to three storeys across five bays. A central canted portico with stone Ionic columns dominates the ground floor, flanked by 16-light sash windows, with 12-light sashes above, all beneath flat arched gauged brick heads. A further bay to the right is a Victorian addition featuring a full-height canted bay window containing full-height sashes. A moulded eaves cornice runs across the facade, with a slate roof recessed behind a parapet. Axial stacks rise from this section.

The interior of the old hall contains substantial remnants of an even earlier timber-framed building, including one cruck blade raised on a stone plinth, and various posts and braces characteristic of box-frame construction, possibly dating from the 15th century. A chamfered stone fireplace bressumer of considerable quality exists, though it bears no relation to the existing floor plan. The hall is panelled throughout with 18th-century woodwork. Victorian features include an internal window depicting Aesop's fables in stained glass.

The new hall contains a series of fine plastered door cases and cornices in the Adam style, along with a cantilevered stair top-lit by a lantern.