Annesley Hall

Annesley Hall is a country house of considerable historical complexity, with origins as an aisled hall dating to the mid 13th century. The building was substantially altered and extended during the mid and late 17th centuries, remodelled and refenestrated in the mid 18th century, and received further additions in 1838 and 1885. It was re-roofed and its interior stripped and partly restored around 1975 and 1985, and is now in the course of conversion to an Old People's Home.

The hall is constructed of coursed and squared rubble with dressed stone and brick, and features steep pitched gabled slate roofs with ashlar dressings, chamfered and rebated plinths, two moulded string courses, and a moulded coped parapet with gables and kneelers. The roof is punctuated by two ridge stacks, two gable stacks, and two external side wall stacks. The building is arranged on a U-plan, three storeys in height and six bays wide.

The north-east front comprises a slightly projecting central bay flanked by projecting gabled wings dating to around 1691. A central keystoned ashlar doorcase is flanked by single mullioned casements with hood moulds. Each gable contains an 18th-century Venetian window. To the left, a 19th-century casement is positioned above a triple round-headed casement flanked by single casements, with two sashes beyond and a further 19th-century casement to the far left. Each gable above has a sash window, all with projecting architraves.

The double-gabled south end, of 19th-century date, features two large mullioned casements with four casements above and two casements at the highest level. To the left stands a set-back roofless rear wing with a mullioned casement and, above, a panel bearing heraldic Arms with a hood mould.

The west side presents a complex elevation. To the left is a roofless 19th-century service wing with a parapeted canted bay window and mullioned casement above. To the right is a projecting wing with an off-centre reeded doorcase with broken pediment, flanked to the left by a single sash and to the right by two sashes. Above are three sashes on each floor, those on the second floor being smaller. At the return angle to the south is a sash on the ground and first floors. To the right again is the Great Hall, two storeys in height, with four mullioned casements on each floor. Beyond this stands a two-storey square stair turret in the return angle, featuring a chamfered doorway and, above, a large wreathed oval sundial dated 1691, flanked by single mullioned casements. The return angle has a single mullioned casement, and to the right again is a 19th-century gable with a mullioned casement on each floor. The 19th-century entrance court and service wing are partly demolished and roofless.

Windows throughout comprise glazing bar sashes and late 19th-century margin light and mullioned casements, many of which remain unglazed.

The interior retains a number of significant features. The north end of the Hall chamber preserves a 13th-century aisle post with moulded capital. A late 17th-century dogleg ashlar staircase with iron balustrade is present, as is an early 18th-century dogleg north staircase, now restored, featuring square newels, bulbous balusters and square finials, with matching landing balustrades. Two rooms retain full-height 18th-century panelling with dentillated and foliate cornices. An 18th-century panelled landing contains a doorcase with pulvinated frieze and scroll brackets. A bedroom to the east of the Hall chamber has a corniced doorcase and mirror door. An 18th-century Classical slate fireplace and early 19th-century carved wood fireplaces are present throughout.

Historically, Annesley Hall was the seat of the Annesley family, passing to the Chaworth family in the 16th century. It remained in the hands of the Chaworth-Musters family until 1972. Subsequent purchasers carried out extensive internal alterations and removed many 17th-century fittings.