Hampton Court

Hampton Court is a house dating from approximately 1427–36, built for Sir Roland Lenthall, who obtained a licence to crenellate in 1434. It was substantially altered in the early 18th century by Colen Campbell for Lord Coningsby, and later remodelled and restored in the early 19th century by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville for Richard Arkwright.

The building is constructed of sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings, and features lead and plain tiled roofs behind embattled parapets topped with groups of 19th-century circular stacks. It follows a quadrangular plan that represents the original 15th-century layout. The main surviving medieval elements include the gatehouse, the chapel, and the porch. Early 18th-century alterations included remodelling of the south front and additions to the south-east and south-west. The 19th-century remodelling involved partial refenestration, the heightening of main ground-floor rooms to the south and east, and numerous further additions.

The building is two and three storeys high with a cellar and chamfered plinth. The north entrance front features a 1:3:1:3:1 bay composition with a large central rectangular gatehouse flanked by three-bay ranges that terminate in small square towers. The gatehouse rises three levels above the rest of the building and is crowned with a machicolated parapet on moulded corbelling. Below this is a pair of centred arches beneath a square head with quatrefoil tracery in the spandrels, moulded jambs, and a hoodmould with head stops. The reveals are grooved for a portcullis, and the original double doors feature nail-studded battens on square framing with a wicket in each fold. The archway is flanked by cruciform loopholes. Above this medieval work is a 19th-century archway with a four-centred head that incorporates both upper levels and contains a 4-light mullioned window on each level, subdivided by a stone panel with a shield relief frieze. The lower window interrupts a string course. The left side of the gatehouse contains a ground-floor cruciform loophole and a cusped lancet window beneath a square head with a hoodmould on the upper levels. The right side features a similar window at the intermediate level and a bartizan tower in the angle containing a staircase with three loopholes. The south side of the gatehouse has an original tall niche with a canopied head and vaulted soffit; within, above the ground floor, is a two-bay quadripartite stone rib vault with foliated bosses.

The flanking three-bay ranges have bays adjacent to the gatehouse that are carried up higher to form small square towers. The left range is two storeys divided by a string course and is articulated by buttresses with offsets flanking two ground-floor windows. There are three first-floor windows and a further window on the second floor of the tower. The square tower terminating this range to the left is two levels with a string course and has a window on both levels. All these windows are cusped lancets with square heads and hoodmoulds with head stops. The right range is three storeys with a continuous hoodmould to the ground-floor windows and two 2-light windows with square heads on each floor. The heightened bay adjacent to the gatehouse has a cusped lancet on each floor, and the square tower at the right end is two levels divided by a string course with a similar lancet on the second level.

The chapel adjoins the east end of the north front. It has a gabled roof with an east end plain parapet and finial, and side parapets pierced with a trefoil frieze (probably a 19th-century alteration). The chapel consists of a continuous four-bay nave and chancel. At the east end are diagonal buttresses with offsets terminating in tall pinnacles. There is a 5-light east window and three 3-light north windows, all with pointed heads and hoodmoulds, and a blocked window to the south-east. The east, south, and west fronts retain no medieval features, having been largely refaced with 19th-century windows inserted.

On the south side of the courtyard is the 15th-century porch, square in plan, two storeys high with a machicolated parapet and diagonal corner buttresses with offsets. It has a four-centred archway with a hoodmould and a 19th-century doorway, similarly arched, with traceried infill between the two archways. Above is an original 4-light window with a sill string. The quadripartite vaulted cloisters built around the courtyard are 19th-century additions.

Adjoining the west elevation of the house is a service range also of quadrangular plan and one to two storeys, similarly detailed to the main building. This service range has a long north-west wing incorporating former stables and servants' quarters, largely of 19th-century date and subsequently altered. The stables are probably of 16th-century origin; they are of rubble with ashlar dressings, a machine-tiled roof, and gable-end parapets with round finials. They comprise five bays aligned north to south with a projecting central wing on the east side, single storey and attic height. The main east elevation has a gabled central end with a blocked opening on each floor level and a right-side door. The flanking bays are articulated by narrow buttresses and have large lunette windows, two with doorways beneath.

The interior of the main house features an early 18th-century open well staircase west of the gatehouse with a scrolled wrought iron balustrade and moulded handrail. East of the gatehouse is an early 18th-century marble fireplace with fluted columns and a coat of arms. The chapel retains part of its 15th-century ribbed ceiling, which is elaborately moulded and painted with ornately carved bosses, and contains some original stained glass in the north windows.

According to a letter from Vanbrugh, Talman may have made some plans for the remodelling of Hampton Court. The illustration in Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus, Vol II, 1717, may represent Talman's scheme for a medievalised symmetrical facade. Early 18th-century illustrations by Kip and Knyff, and later 18th- and early 19th-century illustrations, such as that by Neale of 1826, suggest the building may have a further complicated architectural history.