Craven Lodge

Craven Lodge is a house built in 1827 for Dr Keal, subsequently remodelled and enlarged between 1856 and 1860 for the Hon W.G. Craven as a hunting lodge. It was further altered in 1868 for J. Coupland and again in the 1890s for Col E.H. Baldock. In 1922 it was divided into apartments for Capt M. Wardell, who added a wing in 1923–4 designed by Ernest Clarke of Melton. The building served as a hunting lodge and apartments until the Second World War, after which it was used as a special school.

The house is constructed in red brick with stone dressings and Welsh slate roofs, predominantly featuring prominent bracketed eaves. It has numerous brick ridge and side stacks and is designed in the Late Classical style. Originally arranged in an L-plan with a main entrance block to the north and west and a projecting wing at the south east, it was subsequently extended by the addition of a southernmost wing in 1923–4. The building is generally two storeys over a basement, although the 1923–4 wing rises to three storeys.

The north range comprises 4 bays with an off-centre doorway in the second bay from the west. It features double-hung sash windows with 6/6 panes on the upper floor and single panes to the ground floor, separated by a plat band. The entrance bay is recessed and contains an Ionic tetrastyle portico in antis, now glazed between the columns, with a balustrade parapet above and bracketed projecting cornice. The return elevations display tripartite round-headed windows in stone surrounds with keystones to the centre and impost bands. The west flank includes a bay window on the ground floor and further south a two-storey projecting wing, dated 1895 on the interior, with a square bay beneath a hipped roof. At the south west corner, in the re-entrant angle between wings, stands a two-storey, three-bay block of paler brick with canted corners and tripartite windows to the centre, furnished with eared architraves.

The south east range has a north elevation of 6 bays, the outer three of which project forward, and an east elevation of 9 bays showing a change of brick type in the centre. The southernmost section is a three-storey block of apartments erected in 1923–4, three or four bays wide, with double-hung glazing bar sash windows of 3/6 panes and a later door. The south elevation comprises a low 6-bay range with an off-centre pediment to the left.

Internally, the house contains a large open entrance and stair hall with an open-well stair featuring an elaborate cast iron balustrade. The principal rooms on both floors of the north block retain original joinery including architraves, doors, shutters and surrounds, along with plaster ceilings, cornices, panelling and robust timber, marble and stone fire surrounds dating from throughout the second half of the 19th century. The 1923–4 wing preserves some of its original plan form and fittings at upper floor level, including the main rooms at first floor level, which are likely to have been used by Edward, Prince of Wales.

This house was originally built as a residence for a local doctor. The Hon W.G. Craven then converted it into "a splendid hunting establishment". In 1868 it was purchased by J. Coupland, a business man with shipping interests in Liverpool. Coupland's extensive alterations transformed it into one of the finest hunting lodges in the area. He served as Master of the Quorn Hunt for fourteen seasons from 1870–1 to 1883–4. In 1873 the house was acquired by William Younger, an Edinburgh brewer. Col E.H. Baldock purchased it in 1884 and founded the Melton Golf and Polo Clubs. Following the First World War, the house was divided into apartments for letting to the hunting fraternity. It experienced another period of prominence when enlarged in 1923–4 to accommodate "the Craven Lodge Club", which included Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII), the Duke of York (later George VI), and the Duke of Gloucester.

Craven Lodge is a well-detailed and important example of a hunting lodge that evolved during the 19th and 20th centuries, being repeatedly altered and enlarged to reflect the expansion and popularity of hunting around Melton Mowbray, which lies close to the territories of four hunts: the Quorn, Belvoir, Cottesmore and Fernie. It possesses considerable historic interest. These hunting lodges, including Sysonby and Egerton Lodges, form a significant group important to the townscape and history of Melton Mowbray.