Caythorpe Court

Caythorpe Court is an agricultural college, formerly a country house, designed in 1899 by Sir R. Blomfield. Built in the 17th-century style with local vernacular details, it is constructed from coursed limestone and ironstone rubble, banded in parts, with ashlar dressings. The main block has four moulded wall stacks, while a service range at the rear carries one ridge stack and one gable stack. The roofs are slate-covered.

The principal range is L-shaped with a kitchen yard surrounded by service ranges on three sides at the rear. The house is characterised by banded work, moulded string courses, and steeply pitched stone-coped gables with ball finials.

The east front is dominated by a three-storey central entrance tower of one bay, flanked by recessed gabled walls of two irregular bays on each side. The tower features an elaborate scheme of surface decoration arranged in five horizontal zones: fair-faced ashlar at the base, followed by trompe l'oeil work, and further banded work continuing to the parapet. The tower has a plinth and two moulded string courses. The central panelled door has a moulded surround and segmental head surmounted by a stepped hood mould with label stops, containing a shield of arms with a helm flanked by elaborate florid scrolls. Above the door is a four-light mullioned window with cornice. On the third floor is a lower four-light mullioned window with a cornice that rises to a semicircle at the centre. The parapet is coped with ball finials at the angles. To the left of the tower are two tall four-light mullioned and transomed windows with two shorter four-light mullioned windows above, all with cornices, and a further four-light mullioned window in the gable. To the right is one single and one three-light mullioned and transomed window, with above a single and a two-light similar window, and a four-light mullioned window in the gable; all have cornices. A linking range at right angles to the east front connects the principal rooms to the service yard to the east. This block is three bays of two storeys plus attics, with an open balustraded balcony at first-floor level and three coped gabled roofs above.

The west or garden front is in banded work with three stone-coped gables. It is a five-bay front with projecting centre and flanking bays, of two storeys plus attics. The off-centre panelled door is flanked on the left by single four-, five-, and six-light mullioned windows, the end one containing a two-light casement with semicircular head. To the right of the door is a further similar six-light window. On the first floor, above the door is a large six-light mullioned window with two transomes and paired central casements with semicircular head. To the left are single four-, five-, and six-light windows as below, the centre one with a cornice rising to a semicircle over the head. To the right is a six-light window. The gables of the projecting bays are lit by mullioned windows in a rhythm of four-three-four lights, and between them are single two-light dormers under tiled gables. All mullioned windows have moulded surrounds, iron casements, and cornices.

The south front is of five irregular bays with one canted and one rectangular bay projecting. The west front of the service block is five bays and single storey plus attics. The style here is more domestic, reflecting its function. The walls are stucco with ashlar dressings and coped gabled roof. The off-centre panelled door has to the right four two-light plain mullioned windows, and on the attic floor are five dormers with gabled tiled roofs and bargeboards.

Inside, an oak-panelled porch leads into a spacious panelled hall with decorative plaster ceiling. The stair is also oak, in a restrained 17th-century style with brass newel finials. The former drawing room retains its original fireplace and panelling as well as an elaborate strapwork-decorated plaster ceiling. The 17th-century style is continued throughout the principal rooms, though the former billiard room and dining room are less well preserved.