Donnington Hall

Donnington Hall is a country house built in the mid-18th century and extensively remodeled and enlarged in 1909 by an architect named Ogilvy for Admiral Fanshawe. The building is rendered and features a hipped slate roof with a modillioned cornice and panelled ashlar stacks, all designed in an early mid-18th century style. It has two storeys, cellars, and an attic in the garden wing.

The entrance front consists of 4:3:2 bays with glazing bar sash windows throughout. The core of the 18th-century house is located on the left, showcasing C18 glazing bar sash windows in exposed boxes. The centre of the façade is recessed, with the middle bay slightly advanced and topped by a pediment featuring an escutcheon and cartouche. A projecting ashlar porch is supported by Tuscan columns and has a broken segmental pediment with arms on a plinth, a blocking course topped with decorative railings and crested brackets, and a decorative panelled door in a bolection moulded surround with a decorative keystone. Square downpipes with enriched and dated heads are also present.

To the right, the two bays are part of the garden front, which has an elevation of eight windows and six hipped dormers. Bays three and six feature glazed doors in Gibbs surrounds with bolection moulded architraves and triple keystones that extend through the pediment. There are four round niches on the first floor, each with moulded surrounds and stone brackets for statues.

Inside, the hall showcases fine quality wood and plasterwork from 1909, incorporating some older fragments. It features Tuscan pilasters and a triglyph frieze, an arcade leading to the staircase, and a vaulted rear passage. A re-used early 18th-century staircase with turned balusters and a ramped handrail can be found here. The drawing room includes a central colonnade with marble columns and a fine marble fireplace, while the library features a late 18th-century fireplace and built-in late 18th-century bookcases.