Stoke Rochford Hall

Stoke Rochford Hall is a former country house, now a residential trade union centre, built between 1841 and 1845 by the architect William Burn for Sir Christopher Turnor. The house is designed in the Jacobethan style and represents a substantial and ornate example of mid-19th-century country house architecture.

The exterior is constructed in pecked ashlar with smooth ashlar quoins and dressings beneath Welsh slate roofs. The roofs feature raised stone coped gables with obelisk finials and numerous tall octagonal grouped chimney stacks in a variety of styles, mostly facetted with moulded cornices, some with twisted cable mouldings and elaborate cornices.

The building adopts an irregular L-shaped plan. The central range comprises two storeys plus attics, with a more restrained service wing to the left at right angles extending to full height, a projecting single storey range, and an orangery to the right that continues the main front. The structure sits upon a chamfered plinth with two moulded cornice bands and round-headed arched balustraded parapets with raised shaped alternating quoins.

The principal entrance is contained within an advanced two-storey porch with an elaborate strapwork gable topped with obelisks, a broken segmental pediment, and a lion. The central panelled double doors feature a plain fanlight and an elaborately moulded architrave decorated with cabochon stones, fasces, and fruit. These doors are flanked by blank semi-circular headed niches with shells to the archivolts. The first floor contains a mullioned semi-circular oriel with moulded base, flanked by single two-light windows, with a pierced strapwork parapet above. Within the gable is a decorated square panel containing an ashlar clock face with Roman numerals (hands now missing), a scrolled top, and above it the Turnor arms with helm. The entry bay is flanked by glazed tripartite balustraded and top-lit loggias, also decorated with cabochon stones and fasces, with single three-light windows and gabled dormers above. The outer gabled projecting flanking bays contain tall two-storey rectangular bays, each with six-light windows and pierced strapwork parapets. The angles of these bays are crowned by square turrets with ogee ashlar roofs bearing open-work obelisk pinnacles, linked by single pinnacled gables.

The left-hand service wing features a second doorway with a moulded eared architrave and scrolled overdoor. Two-light windows appear on the first and second floors, while pairs of three-light windows to each floor are surmounted by a gable over the projecting bay with ball finials. At the angle of the service wing and the long single-storey range stands a facetted stair tower with an octagonal turret. In the lower range, which includes a basement with four tall glazing bar sashes, the ground floor contains alternating two and three-light windows topped by moulded cornices, a pierced parapet, and four urns. This range terminates in an advanced L-shaped block with angle turrets and a gable matching the main house.

The Orangery to the right of the main block features three large four-light windows on the side walls and a projecting rectangular end bay containing three pairs of similar lights. The windows are separated by Doric pilasters supporting a plain cornice surmounted by urns and a pierced strapwork cartouche above the advanced bay. The rear side displays slightly projecting gabled wings with angle turrets and facetted bay windows through two storeys. Between the end bays are five tall three-light windows to the first and second floors with gabled dormers linked by pierced parapets. All windows throughout are ovolo mullioned and transomed. The lead rainwater goods are embossed with a foliated "T" for Turnor and are dated 1843.

The interior is remarkably rich in decoration. The central hall displays Jacobean style panelling with segmental broken pedimented overdoors. The fireplace features an elaborate pedimented stone overmantle with strapwork flanked by classical demi-figures. Three full-height arches to the left provide access to the service range. The ceiling is coffered with strapwork plaster cartouches and a cornice.

The library at the upper end of the hall contains two elaborately carved fireplaces with mirrors and carved surrounds. The walls are shelved and the ceiling displays rich strap and scrollwork with pendants.

The Turnor Room is decorated in the Louis Quinze style with a white marble fireplace and four large mirrors featuring gilded Rococo surrounds. The doors and shutters are panelled with gesso mouldings, ormolu handles, and scrolled lock plates. The ceiling, however, continues the anachronistic Jacobethan style of the house. Double panelled folded doors at the east end lead to the Rochford Room, similarly styled with two mirrors and a white fireplace.

In the former Music Room stands a large chimney piece in black and white marble, featuring winged caryatids with claw feet, feathered bosoms, and winged heads, with a massive entablature and white frieze of foliage. This work is thought by some to be Flemish 17th century, though the faces appear to be 19th century in execution.

The grand stair has moulded newels and handrail originally fitted with semi-circular arched pierced balusters with panelled undersides, including one curved section. Around 1900, some sections of the original balustrades were replaced by pierced fretwork painted wooden panels depicting scenes from a Grand Tour undertaken by Christopher Turnor, the then owner of the house.

The principal corridor upstairs features bolection moulded dado panelling. The service range is generally restrained in style but includes plaster ceiling decorations in 17th-century vernacular manner. A cantilevered service stair features cast iron papyrus balusters and a moulded wooden handrail.

Beneath the central block runs a narrow gauge railway with a square track layout, contained in brick vaulted tunnels; the rails and turntable survive. This was used to convey coals to the principal rooms. A brick vaulted wine cellar also survives.