Thrumpton Hall And Attached Range Of Outbuildings

Thrumpton Hall is a small country house with an attached range of outbuildings, completed by 1617 for Gervase Pigot. His son, also named Gervase, altered and improved the property in the 1660s. Further alterations were made in the late 18th century for John Wescomb Emerton, with additional alterations, extensions and restorations carried out around 1830 for John Emerton Wescomb. The house was restored in the mid-20th century.

The building is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings. The house has flush ashlar quoins and sits on a chamfered ashlar plinth, with plain tile roofs. It is H-plan in form, with loggias and a lower wing to the east that connects the house to the stable block.

North (Entrance) Front

The entrance front features a single central chimney stack with five tall shafts, the central three set diagonally. To the left is a single stack with flush ashlar quoins and four shafts. The parapet has moulded ashlar coping with an ashlar band extending beneath. The front is two storeys plus cellar and attic, arranged in seven bays. The outer two bays on each side project and are gabled with probably 1660s decorative ashlar crestings topped with broken horned pediments containing single orb finials.

The cellar has six two-light ashlar mullion openings. The central three bays feature a single-storey loggia topped with a balustraded parapet and three round arches with ashlar impost bands and keystones. The central arch is open, forming a porch with an inner late 18th-century window with two ogee-arched lights with hexagonal glazing bars and a single central quatrefoil. A 17th-century dripmould sits over this. In the right wall is a doorway with a panelled door. The other arches each contain a single 19th-century fixed light with octagonal glazing bars.

Further right and left are two similar two-light windows with 17th-century dripmoulds. Above are six similar windows with dripmoulds. Each gable apex has a single similar window. The parapet to the central bays contains two two-light ashlar mullion casements, each flanked by single ashlar strips, with a single similar central strip. All windows apart from those of the loggia have flush ashlar quoin surrounds.

Two decorative rainwater heads survive, one bearing the Pigot arms and crests, both with brackets to the downpipes dated 1662.

Extending in front of the house is a terrace, balustraded to the west and north.

Attached Wings and Service Range

Attached to the left of the house and set back slightly is a two-storey, single-bay 19th-century wing with dogtooth eaves and a single casement on each floor with hexagonal glazing bars. Behind this is a 17th-century wing, its side wall containing a single ashlar mullion casement and a single ashlar cross casement above.

Projecting from the side wall is a two-storey plus attic, single-bay wing with a single two-light ashlar mullion casement and a single ashlar casement above, both with dripmoulds. The attic has a single hipped roof dormer with a single casement.

Projecting from the left is a single-bay, two-and-a-half-storey wing, each floor with a single casement in an ashlar surround. The ground and first floors have dripmoulds.

To the left and projecting is the two-storey plus garret 19th-century kitchen wing with a Flemish gable and a single ridge glass and lead 19th-century cupola. The gable end is two bays with two casements on each floor in ashlar surrounds and a single ashlar clock face in the apex.

To the left and set back is a two-storey plus garret, two-bay wing with a similar gable, containing two casements with a doorway to the left and two casements above. Most casements have hexagonal glazing bars.

West Front

The west front has two external stacks, each with three shafts and flush ashlar quoins. The parapet to the left matches the entrance front, while the parapet to the right is shaped with moulded ashlar coping. A reconstructed 1660s wall between the shafts features a top floor with flush ashlar quoins and a balustraded parapet. There are continuous ashlar lintel bands to all openings here apart from the top floor.

The left stack contains a single ashlar mullion two-light casement with a blocked arch over. A blocked segmental arch appears in the right stack. The central bays contain a doorway with a glazed and panelled door. Over the band is a segmental arched ashlar pediment with imposts and a pendant keystone and a single small carved grotesque. Above are two ashlar cross casements with two similar casements above and a single similar casement on the top floor. To the right is a single ashlar mullion two-light casement. The windows are staggered in order to light the stair. All openings have flush ashlar quoin surrounds.

South (Garden) Front

The garden front is two storeys plus attic, arranged in five bays. The single outer bays project and have gables as on the entrance front. The central parapet is similar to the entrance front. The central three bays feature a slightly projecting single-storey loggia topped with a balustrade. The loggia was brought forward in the late 18th century and enclosed around 1830.

It has a three-bay ashlar arcade with Doric columns and responds and keystones. The single central bay contains a glazed and panelled door with a fanlight. Either side are single sashes with balustrades beneath and single similar fanlights. Further left and right are single arched ashlar fixed lights with pendant keystones, single transoms and flush ashlar quoin surrounds.

Each outer bay contains a single 17th-century three-light ashlar cross sash. Two similar smaller three-light windows sit above, with the central three bays containing three similar two-light windows. The garrets each have a single three-light ashlar mullion sash, all with moulded dripmoulds. The attic has two hipped roof dormers, each with a single glazing bar casement. All windows apart from the loggia sashes have decorative glazing bars. Most ashlar windows have flush ashlar quoin surrounds.

Extending in front of the house is a formal garden enclosed by a low red brick wall with shaped ashlar coping, broken in parts. The wall has several small piers topped with decorative urns.

Outbuildings

Adjoining the right of the house and set back is an irregular two-storey, three-bay wing with some 17th-century ashlar and ashlar mullion windows. Projecting from the right is the rear of the around 1830 stable block with four ridge stacks, arranged in five bays. It has five half dormers with Flemish gables, each with single fixed lights with hexagonal glazing bars, ashlar surrounds and dripmoulds.

Projecting from the rear right of this wing is a further nine-bay stable block range. The outer single bays project and have Flemish gables. A single similar smaller central bay has a segmental arched doorway. The remaining bays have fixed lights in ashlar surrounds with hexagonal glazing bars.

Projecting from the rear right is a further stable range with a brick-coped right gable with kneelers and a Tudor arched entrance into a courtyard.

Attached to the right is a red brick wall terminating in the early 17th-century Old Dairy, which is single storey plus attic, two bays, set on a rubble plinth. It has a left (south) gable stack, this gable being brick-coped with kneelers, and a right Flemish gable. There are two first-floor raised brick and dogtooth bands. It contains two casements with a single half dormer above with a Flemish gable and single casement. The right gable wall has a single tripartite casement on each floor. The rear has a doorway with a plank door and a single casement in the attic. All casements have hexagonal glazing bars and are in ashlar surrounds.

Projecting from the rear is a red brick wall terminating in the kitchen wing.

Interior

The panelled library was formed around 1830. The entrance hall was probably panelled in the 1660s and further decorated with two pillars, pilasters and shields. Arched doorways with keyblocks and panelled spandrels lead off. An ashlar fireplace with a keystone is flanked by single pilasters. A late 18th-century paved floor extends to the staircase hall.

A fine 1660s open well staircase has a balustrade carved with foliate scrolls, with similarly carved and decorated dados incorporating newels. The strings are carved. Newels have foliate and grape carving topped with acanthus urns further decorated with carved fruit, with carved pendants to newels. A fireplace has an eared architrave with decorative panelling to the sides and is topped with urns.

There are eight mid-17th-century doorcases with eared architraves, the overdoors with carved swags and scrolls. Those on the ground floor are topped with broken egg-and-dart pediments containing coats of arms. Each doorcase differs in decoration, some being more elaborate. Some are further decorated with carved heads and carved fruits. A single doorway has a fine panelled door with panels containing single ovals and spandrels with raised panelling.

The 1660s panelled saloon contains a marble fireplace with a decorative overmantel flanked by single foliate decorative strips topped with single brackets, further flanked by single decorative pilasters finely decorated with foliate and fruit drops. The cornice is further decorated with lions' masks. The ceiling is around 1780. Mid-18th-century console tables and mirrors remain in situ.

The Oak Room has grained panelled walls, a pulvinated bay leaf frieze, and an egg-and-dart cornice. The fireplace has a fluted surround topped with a scrolled broken pediment containing a single cartouche and a pair of cornucopias. Either side are single Ionic pilasters with arched blind panels with small impost and keyblocks.

The dining room has a raised deep panelled late 17th-century ceiling and a late 18th-century fireplace removed from a house in Harley Street.

Other rooms contain Nottingham alabaster and Hopton marble fireplaces, panelling, decorative cornices and ceilings. The kitchen has a large fireplace with a keyblock, with the centre of the ceiling rising into the cupola.

A stud partition leads to an early 17th-century dogleg staircase with moulded rails and panelled newels, including a double newel topped with bulbous orbs. The newels are incorporated into the wall. There is a single rail of plaster.

The roof with stud partition retains much of its 17th-century structure.

The house was featured in Country Life on 21 May, 28 May and 4 June 1959.