Cold Overton Hall And Adjoining Garden Walls

Cold Overton Hall and adjoining garden walls

Country house, built around 1664 by John St John. Small additions were made in 1809 and 1828. Extensive additions and internal redecoration were carried out by Lanchester & Rickards and A. Blunt in 1914, though most of these additions were demolished around 1950.

The building is constructed of coursed and square ironstone with limestone dressings, with hipped Swithland slate roofs. It has a moulded plinth and lintel band, plain first and second floor bands, and ashlar quoins. There are 3 ridge and single lateral coped stone stacks. The house is 3 storeys plus attics, arranged in 5 bays.

The west garden front features a projecting pedimented 3-bay centre with a 2-storey flat-roofed porch projecting beyond. The porch has a keystoned moulded round-headed doorway with flanking Tuscan columns on diamond-studded pedestals. This is flanked by 2 cross casements on each side, with above the porch a double cross casement flanked by 2 cross casements on each side. Above these are 5 mullioned 2-light casements, the central one blocked. All casements have moulded architraves, cavetto-moulded mullions, and leaded glazing. The south side has 4 cross casements, above which are 4 similar casements, and above again are 4 two-light mullioned casements with cavetto-moulded mullions and leaded glazing.

The east entrance front has single flanking hipped wings, the left-hand one larger with a datestone inscribed 'EFT 1828'. The centre has a moulded keystoned round-headed doorway to the left, with a small casement and 2 mullioned casements to its right. Beyond these, each wing has a cross casement. Above, the centre has 3 stepped stair lights to the left and a cross casement to the right, with each wing having a mullioned casement. Above again, the centre has 3 mullioned casements, the central one smaller, with each wing having a mullioned casement. The return angle to the left has 2 blocked casements to the second floor, while the return angle to the right has a mullioned casement to the first floor and a blocked casement above it.

The north side has a slightly off-centre mid-20th-century flat-roofed porch and panelled door with overlight, flanked by single chamfered casements. Beyond these to the left is a mullioned casement and to the right a cross casement. Above is a central cross casement flanked by single blocked openings, and above again are 3 two-light mullioned casements, that to the right blocked. At the north-west corner is a flat-roofed service room from 1809 with a cross casement to the south. Above the main north elevation is a central flat-roofed dormer.

The interior contains an outstanding 17th-century 3-storey dogleg staircase with a square well. It has panelled square balusters with pierced square finials and drops, square Ionic balusters, and a moulded handrail. At the foot is an exceptionally rare contemporary dog gate with square Ionic balusters and crest.

The hall, now used as a dining room, has 17th-century small panelled wainscotting and an ashlar fireplace with a lintel carried on Doric columns. The panelled overmantel has 2 round-headed panels flanked by single columns, carrying a dentillated cornice. The elaborate banded-patterned plaster ceiling, dating to 1914, is copied from a late 16th-century example at Bromley by Bow.

The adjoining small sitting room is in Rococo style, dating to 1914, and has a moulded cornice, panelled door and architrave, and a yellow marble fireplace with a mid-18th-century fireback.

The long gallery has small panelled wainscotting with a reeded frieze and pilasters from 1599. This wainscotting and the Tudor arched ashlar fireplace inscribed 'EP AP 1599' were brought from a house at East Grinstead, Sussex, and installed in 1915. The gallery has a moulded and bracketed dentillated cornice. The ornate banded plaster ceiling, dating to the early 17th century, was brought from Bury Hall, Edmonton, Greater London, and installed in 1915.

The library retains its original small panelled wainscotting, a fitted bookcase, and its original mid-17th-century ashlar fireplace with corbelled square piers carrying a large plain lintel. The panelled overmantel has strapwork decoration.

The great chamber has restored panelling and an ashlar fireplace with Ionic columns carrying a plain lintel. The overmantel has strapwork decoration.

The panelled Little chamber has a mid-17th-century corbelled fireplace with lintel, a chip-carved overmantel, and a lozenge boss. It has an early 17th-century fireback, a modillioned cornice, and a reproduction early 17th-century plaster ceiling.

The blue bedroom has bolection-moulded panelling, a 17th-century corbelled fireplace with lintel, and a panelled overmantel with flanking cupboard doors. Other bedrooms contain 4 mid-17th-century corbelled fireplaces with lintels and 2 late 18th-century Classical marble fireplaces and grates, one with a relief figure panel and the other inlaid with Blue John. The house contains 2 mid-17th-century plank doors, a mid-17th-century panelled oak door, and 4 18th-century 2-panel doors.

The roof structure is a principal rafter roof with a single purlin.

Outside to the west are 2 mid-17th-century ramped coped-stone garden walls, each approximately 30 metres long, each with a gateway having an unusual scrolled gable with ball finials. These are fitted with good-quality wrought-iron gates.

Historical context: The manor of Cold Overton was purchased around 1620 by John St John from William Compton, Earl of Northampton. In the early 18th century it passed to the Turner family (subsequently Frewen-Turner) and in the 19th century to Earl Cowley. It was bought by James Montagu in 1912. He employed Lanchester and Rickards and A. Blunt to carry out alterations which introduced late 16th- and early 17th-century panelling, ceilings, and fireplaces from various locations.