Aswardby House

This is a former farmhouse dating from around 1835 to 1840, built for Joseph Lyall, who was a tenant farmer at the time. The house is constructed of red brick with stucco lintels featuring keyblocks, and has a slate hipped roof with brick ridge stacks. It has a square main range with a rear service wing. The house is two storeys high, with mostly unhorned sash windows. The front of the building has three six-over-six sash windows on the first floor, with taller, similar sashes below. A central part-glazed door with overlight provides access. The sides of the house have matching six-over-six sashes, and there is a part-glazed side door with overlight. Some two-light casements are located on the north side. A handpump is attached to the east wall.

The interior has undergone very few alterations and retains three staircases. Two of these have stick balustrades, while the dogleg main staircase features a curving mahogany handrail decorated at the base. A separate harvest labourers’ staircase rises between walls at the rear of the house. The hall has a chequer pattern floor of red and black tiles. Many original features remain, including marble and wooden fireplaces with curved cast-iron grates, a bedroom fireplace with a small basket grate, window shutters, cornices, skirtings, and six- and four-panel doors. The kitchen likely retains an original ‘Herald’ range.

The house is documented in the Tithe Award for Aswardby in 1843, confirming Joseph Lyall’s tenancy. A condition of sale in 1844, when the manor was sold, stipulated an allowance of £210 to Mr. Lyall for recently erected farm buildings, as well as acknowledging tenant rights. A nearby barn, not part of the immediate curtilage, is dated 1835. The house is considered to be well-detailed and substantially original, and forms a good group with the adjacent stable block.