Kettlethorpe Hall

Kettlethorpe Hall is a small country house, dating to the early 18th century, incorporating earlier masonry and significantly altered around 1863. It is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings and coursed limestone rubble, with a hipped slate roof. A gabled central projecting bay and four brick wall stacks are also present. The five-bay, two-story brick front is arranged in a 2:1:2 configuration, with the central bay slightly advanced. A brick plinth with a stone coping runs along the base, and ashlar quoins are visible on the right-hand end. A 19th-century, pedimented porch with Ionic pilasters and plain casement side lights shelters the central door. To the left of the porch is a single 19th-century two-light sash window, alongside a blocked opening. To the right are two similar windows. The first floor features four two-light sash windows, with a blocked opening to the left. A carved coat of arms of the Amcotts family is set within the bargeboarded gable. All window and door openings are framed by segmental brick heads. A late 19th-century, single-bay, brick lean-to is located to the right of the front. The rear of the house displays areas of coursed limestone rubble, representing the fabric of an earlier building.

The drawing room contains delicate plasterwork with Adam bows and scrolls on a high ceiling. The dining room has early 18th-century full-height panelling, a dado rail, dentillated frieze, and arched alcoves flanking the fireplace. The fireplace itself is from the late 18th century and made of pink marble, with urns and fluted pilasters. The rear hall features two semi-circular archways with carved faces on the impost blocks. The rear staircase has turned and knopped balusters in an early 18th-century style, with a carved string and panelled side wall. Within the rear sitting room are re-used 17th-century wainscotting, 18th-century panelling along the window wall, and an 18th-century eared fireplace surround. A first-floor bedroom is panelled to dado height and incorporates a late 18th-century Adam-style fireplace.

The site of the house was previously occupied by a medieval house, which was the home of Katherine Swynford, wife of John of Gaunt. The early 18th-century house was built by Charles Hall, a Member of Parliament, who inherited the property in 1713. Ownership subsequently passed to the Amcotts family; a design for the dining room’s marble fireplace, inscribed for Charles Amcotts, is held in the Victoria and Albert Museum.