Bunny Hall

Bunny Hall is a large country house of Grade I importance, originally rebuilt around 1720 by Sir Thomas Parkyns to his own designs. The building underwent further substantial development with a late 18th-century south front and an east entrance front begun in the early 19th century but remaining incomplete into the late 19th century. It is constructed of red brick with blue brick detailing, render, and ashlar dressings, beneath a slate roof.

The north front, designed by Sir Thomas Parkyns, is built of red brick stretchers with blue brick headers and stands on a chamfered ashlar plinth. It comprises three storeys with five bays. The top storey features a large semi-circular pediment supported at the angles by single ashlar Ionic pilasters, each surmounted by a single arched ashlar niche. The pediment itself is decorated with blue brick diapering and has an ashlar band and corbel table separating it from the floor below. Above rises a two-stage belvedere with wide embattlements and wrought iron railings. The front has chamfered ashlar quoins and flush ashlar quoins to the rear. Two large buttresses project from the second left and second right bays, each with ashlar faces, quoins and bands. The ground floor of each buttress contains a single pointed blind arch with brick infill, impost blocks and keystone, with the keystones supporting projecting ashlar blocks bearing inscription. The right side of the right buttress has a single arched recess. Between the buttresses stands a single-storey lean-to with slate roof and single glazing bar sash. In the far left bay is a single-storey projecting bay with hipped slate roof and single casement. The far right bay features a single recessed blind panel with segmental arched ashlar surround and keystone, now containing a doorway, with a similar panel above now holding a glazing bar fixed light. The central three bays of the pediment project and feature a large central ashlar achievement of arms flanked by chamfered quoins and ashlar strips. The tower above has a single blank square brick panel with ashlar surround containing a central round recessed panel, also with ashlar surround, and over this a single round arched recessed panel with ashlar surround and keystone. The left and right sides each have similarly arched panels to each stage with further ashlar decorations. The rear of the three stages displays a single casement in an arched surround with a large sundial above, complete with ashlar surround and cornice, and a single similarly arched casement above.

The west front, also by Sir Thomas Parkyns, is built in red brick stretchers and blue brick headers. It rises two storeys with five bays, the left single bay extending to three storeys with chamfered ashlar quoins to the top floor. The remainder is topped with an ashlar parapet beneath which extends an ashlar band supported on an ashlar corbel table, extending across the three-storey bay. Flanking this front are single ashlar Ionic pilasters; that on the left is surmounted by a single arched ashlar niche, whilst that on the right has chamfered ashlar quoins and an arched brick niche at its base. The plinth is low and chamfered. The ground floor contains three low glazing bar casements in segmental arched ashlar surrounds with keystones. To the right is a single similar opening now partly blocked with a doorway containing a part-glazed door and a single glazing bar casement above with ashlar sill. The far right has a single blocked segmental arched doorway. Above are four large glazing bar casements under round arched heads with ashlar surrounds and keystones, together with a single central small glazing bar casement. The top floor has a single small glazing bar casement in a similar segmental arched ashlar surround. The narrow right wall of this front, carrying a single stack and similar parapet and corbel table, has a single blind ashlar oeil de boeuf.

To the right of the west front, set back, is a wing rendered over red brick. The ashlar coped parapet has an ashlar band extending beneath it, with two stacks rising from the parapet, the right one carrying three octagonal ashlar shafts. The wing is two and a half storeys with two bays. A single casement is present, and to the right, set under a hipped roof, is a single-storey single projecting bay with a single tripartite glazing bar casement. Above is a single tripartite glazing bar casement and to the right a single smaller glazing bar casement. The top floor contains two small glazing bar casements.

The south front is rendered over red brick with ashlar dressings, topped with an ashlar coped parapet with an ashlar band extending beneath. There are three ashlar stacks, two with four shafts and the third with a single shaft. The front stands on a plinth with first and second-floor bands. It is two and a half storeys with six bays. The second, third and fourth bays from the right are slightly set back. The two left bays and single right bay are gabled, the right bay incorporating a two-storey canted bay. All openings, except those of the canted bay, have eared ashlar architraves. Beneath the first and second-floor windows are raised blind panels. All windows are fitted with casements. The apex of each gabled bay features a single blind arrow loop.

The east or entrance front is equipped with a 19th-century open porte cochere with rusticated piers, cornice and parapet bearing blind raised panels. The inner doorway has a double door with glazing bar marginal lights and overlights.

The rear of the Thomas Parkyns wing displays a single ashlar Ionic pilaster to the right with an arched ashlar niche above. The left corner of the single right bay has chamfered ashlar quoins and similar ashlar band and corbel table, with this bay having a sloping ashlar coped parapet. Four glazing bar sashes in segmental arched ashlar surrounds with keystones are present. To the left are further openings, and to the right of the pilaster is a single-storey single-bay wing with a doorway. Above are four glazing bar casements in similar round arched surrounds. The left three bays are set back, with further openings including a Venetian stair light to the left.

The interior was only partially inspected. The south-west corner on the first floor contains three rooms lined with bolection moulded panelling of late 17th or early 18th-century date, covering most of the walls. The south front incorporates 19th-century fireplaces in the ground floor rooms. Former records reference a reproduction 18th-century staircase, which was not inspected during this survey.