Newstead Abbey And Adjoining Boundary Wall

Newstead Abbey and Adjoining Boundary Walls

Newstead Abbey is an Augustinian priory established around 1165 by Henry III and extended and rebuilt in the late 13th century. The Prior's Lodgings, Great Hall, and Dorter were added in the 15th century. The priory was converted to a country house in 1539 by Sir John Byron of Colwick. It was restored by George Gordon Byron around 1800, extended and restored by John Shaw for Colonel Wildman in 1819, and altered around 1862 for F.W. Webb.

The building is constructed of coursed and squared rubble and ashlar with plain tile and slate roofs. It features chamfered and moulded plinths, string courses and impost bands, crenellated parapets, and coped gables, some crow-stepped. Rainwater heads are initialled "W" and "1818". The building has 10 side wall stacks, 9 ridge stacks, and 4 gable stacks. It ranges from 2 to 3 storeys and is planned as a square around a central cloister, with south-east and south-west wings.

The west front displays the west gable of the Priory church (late 13th century) with three bays. This features blind arcading, string courses, moulded balustrade, pinnacles, and gargoyles. There are four gabled buttresses, each with a gabled niche. A central doorway with hood mould and trumeau is flanked to the left by a simpler doorway and to the right by a restored double lancet. Above are a central untraceried window flanked by single blind traceried panels, then a central gable with quadruple lancet flanked by single lancets, and above that, a niche with a figure.

To the right of the church gable is the Priory west range, altered in the early 18th century and remodelled in 1819. It features a six-bay arcade with six lancets. Beyond this is a gabled buttressed porch with an ogee doorway, followed by an arcaded base to a bow window. Above are four bay windows and a bow window to the right. Further right stands the buttressed and crenellated Sussex Tower, four stages high, with round-headed fenestration. The top stage has multiple lancet openings on each side.

The south-west range dates to the 18th century, raised in the early 19th century in the Cinque Ports Gothic style. It has an irregular L-plan, three storeys, and measures eight bays long by four bays wide, with lancet windows mostly featuring hood moulds. The buttressed west side has similar lancets and two doors. The west side includes an open arcade with six lancets above. To the right is an opening containing a door with margin lights.

The south side of this range features an octagonal kitchen (1819) with a pyramid roof and lantern finial, flanked to the south and east by a triple lancet. To its right is a square tower three stages high with lancets and mullioned and transomed casements. The balanced south facade (1819) has a central full-height balustraded bay window flanked by single gabled buttresses topped with traceried octagonal stacks. Below are five pairs of superimposed lancets and to the right, a doorway. Above are six mullioned windows, then a central panel with the Arms.

The south-east wing, built in the early 19th century, displays Renaissance Revival style with an L-plan, buttresses, and crow-stepped gables. The south side features a door to the left and a two-storey square bay window to the right. Above to the left is a canted oriel and to the right, two lancets. Above again are a dormer and two lancets. The east front has a central crenellated porch dated 1631 (the former front porch removed from the east front) with a keystoned round-headed doorway and iron gates, flanked by single lancets. Beyond to the left are three double lancets and to the right, a single double lancet. Above are five lancets, and higher still, a shouldered gable flanked by single dormers.

The east front, dating from the 13th century but remodelled in 1818 and late 19th century, spans ten bays. To the left is a two-storey corner tower and to the right, a two-storey north cloister. Two gabled buttresses are present, with six lancets of various sizes. Further right is a parapeted bay window (1905). Above are ten traceried lancets and seven gabled dormers above those.

The buttressed north side spans five bays and features a stair leading to a door on the left, two canted crenellated oriels and a lancet to its right. Above are three lancets and a shaped gable with a cross.

The cloister garth was remodelled in 1818 and measures ten by eight bays, with lancets and an ogee-headed doorway. The crypt, dating from the late 13th century, spans four bays and contains three octagonal piers and a chamfered rib vault. The parlour to the north has a single central pier and similar vault. The north cloister has two blocked 13th-century doorways. The orangery features a plaster frieze and a late 17th-century style plaster ceiling. The vaulted slype has a chamfered and rebated 13th-century doorway with double shafts and an inserted Tudor arched doorway.

The chapter house, dating from the 13th century, consists of three bays. It was converted to a chapel in the 16th century and altered around 1820 and 1860. The west door has triple shafts and an ornamented moulded head, flanked by single paired moulded lancets with plate tracery. The moulded rib vault rests on two ringed composite piers with stiff-leaf capitals. The north, south, and west sides feature trefoil-headed blind arcades. The east side has a similar arcade containing memorials to the Webb family, with two memorial windows by Hardman above. A gallery to the north contains a memorial window dated 1864.

The south cloister contains a blocked stair and a central pointed recess holding a lavatorium. The dark entry, Becket Room, and Plantagenet Room have chamfered and keeled rib vaults with octagonal central piers. The Plantagenet Room features a stiff-leaf capital and a late 19th-century Gothic style fireplace. The southern undercroft has a chamfered rib vault with eight octagonal piers. The octagonal kitchen has a rib vault and four Tudor arched recesses containing ranges and cupboards.

The Great Hall was restored in the early 19th century and features panelled walls and an arch-braced roof with figure corbels and shields. The south end displays a 14th-century style traceried oak screen (1819) with central doors. Above is a transom bearing a Latin inscription and a pierced balustrade to the Minstrels' Gallery. The east side has a matching doorcase and a central Tudor arched ashlar fireplace with a bracketed hood. A panelled gallery over the west cloister features an ashlar newel stair with a double lancet containing 18th-century stained glass.

Byron's bedroom and adjoining dressing room have simple dado and cornice with 19th-century Gothic corner fireplaces. The adjoining Prior's Oratory features a 16th-century brick corner fireplace and an open lean-to roof. The gallery over the north cloister has a Classical marble fireplace of the mid-18th century by Thomas Carter, with a mask boss and two star-shaped ceiling bosses. The Charles II room has a painted panelled ceiling attributed to William Kent (circa 1720) and a mid-18th-century Classical marble corner fireplace. Other panelled and tapestried bedrooms contain three carved overmantels dating from the early 16th century, sourced from Colwick Hall.

The refectory, now a saloon, features a moulded low-pitched roof and a plaster ceiling dated circa 1631, restored in 1966. It contains a Classical marble fireplace attributed to Thomas Carter. The principal rooms of the south-west wing retain 17th-century panelling and overmantels, and three fireplaces with terra-cotta panels of the mid-18th century by William Collins.

Outside, to the north-west is a late 19th-century boundary wall with crenellated coping, a square summerhouse, a gabled gateway, and a canted corner with seat. To the south-east is a balustraded garden wall with moulded coping and two stone seats. The building covers approximately 10,000 square metres.