Papplewick Hall

Papplewick Hall is a country house built around 1785 for the Hon. Frederick Montague, with mid-19th-century alterations. It is constructed in ashlar with a hipped slate roof, and comprises three storeys plus basement, measuring five bays wide by four bays deep. The building features a plinth, rusticated quoins, first-floor and sill bands, a cornice and blocking course, and two roof stacks.

The west front is the principal elevation, presenting a stepped forward pedimented central bay. The basement level has five square sash windows with glazing bars. The rusticated ground floor displays three round-headed recesses containing sashes, flanked by single sashes with moulded surrounds and cornices. The first floor above contains five sashes alternating with pilasters, with the central sash bearing a cornice on scroll brackets. The second floor has five square sashes. To the left of the main house stands a single-storey billiard room of mid-20th-century date, featuring a parapet and short balustrade, with a central French window in a keystoned rusticated surround, flanked by a glazed door and French window. The north side has two sashes, whilst the south side displays two dummy sashes on the left and two sashes on the right, with four sashes above, and above those two square sashes flanked by blank panels.

The east side features a central rusticated flat-roofed porch of mid-19th-century date. A central door with plain fanlight is flanked by round-headed plain sashes, themselves flanked by rusticated panels each containing a blank tablet. Beyond these are single basement windows with segmental heads, above which are single sashes. A projecting central section follows, flanked by paired Ionic pilasters. A pedimented central sash with shouldered architrave and balustraded apron is flanked by single sashes. Above are three square sashes, the central one with eared architrave. An inner door features a rusticated apsidal surround with mid-19th-century glazed doors and an 18th-century traceried fanlight.

The interior is decorated throughout in Adam-style Classical manner. Principal rooms feature chair rails and modillioned or dentillated cornices, with Classical timber fireplaces. The entrance hall has a curved north wall and a curved cantilevered stone stair with iron balustrade and scrolled, ramped handrail.

The drawing room has a bracketed cornice on its doorcase and contains a basket grate with scallop-panelled cheeks, flanked by single doors with carved friezes and plaster wall panels. An oval ceiling panel features high-relief sphinxes in its borders, and there are two wall mirrors with ornate gilt frames.

The dining room has a Classical marble and granite fireplace at its west end, flanked by single panels with wreaths and swags. The west end also features an apsidal niche containing a mirror and sconce, flanked by single panels with wreaths. There are two doors with bracketed cornices. The frieze displays sphinx motifs and an oval ceiling panel shows a grapevine border.

The library has a curved north wall with round-headed book compartments, a palmette frieze, and an oval ceiling panel with oak-leaf border. A mid-19th-century fireplace is set above a half-round panel containing an urn, with a disguised door to its left. A fitted pedimented bookcase above displays a single rectangular and four round relief panels.

The morning room, now converted to a kitchen, has a curved wall with a central niche flanked by single doors and a coved ceiling. Its fireplace has a terra cotta overmantel panel by Flaxman, dating to around 1780. A cantilevered stone dogleg service stair features iron balusters and ramped handrail.

First-floor bedrooms have moulded cornices and Classical timber fireplaces fitted with mid-19th-century register grates and two early-19th-century hob grates. Second-floor bedrooms have moulded cornices and plain fireplaces with 19th-century hob and register grates. The billiard room has a panelled coved ceiling and three round-headed glazed cupboards, two with bronze grilles below.