Usselby Hall

Usselby Hall is a small country house dating from the mid-18th century, with significant alterations and an addition made in the early 19th century. It is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings and rendered sections, and has a hipped slate roof with lead detailing and two brick ridge stacks.

The main front is two storeys high, featuring a slight ashlar plinth, a first-floor sill band, and deeply overhanging eaves. The five-bay facade has a central early 19th-century six-panelled door with octagonal fielded panels and a traceried fanlight. This is flanked by pairs of ashlar columns with fluted capitals, supporting an entablature with modillions and an open pediment. Either side of the door are pairs of glazing bar sashes set within splayed rusticated ashlar lintels, each with a vermiculated keystone. The first floor has five similar, shorter windows. A change in brickwork between the fourth and fifth bays suggests this bay was added during the early 19th-century refronting.

The three-bay side elevation, built with a different brick bond and likely dating from the mid-18th century, has a central six-panelled door with a traceried fanlight, panelled reveals, and archivolt. A moulded pilaster door case with an open pediment is flanked by single glazing bar sashes. Above are three similar windows, each with a slight segmental arched brick head. The rear elevation is rendered and includes a large Venetian window, providing light to the stairwell.

The interior contains fine early 19th-century details. The hall has a moulded cornice decorated in the Indian style, inspired by the Brighton Pavilion. An elliptical archway leads to an elegant curved stairwell with a swept handrail and plain balusters. The ceiling above the stair features an oval decorative moulding in Adam style. The doors on the ground and first floor, along with their traceried fanlights and decorative architraves, are particularly noteworthy. The drawing room includes a leopards head motif used on the cornice, architraves and alcoves, along with a contemporary marble fireplace. On the first floor are two cast iron grates with Gothic tracery and an additional moulded fireplace surround.

The house was formerly the home of the grandfather of the poet Tennyson and was later used as a German officer prisoner of war camp during the Second World War.