Whitton Hall

Whitton Hall is a country house built circa 1720-30, probably for Alexander Top (II) and later his son John Topp (I), and restored and extended soon after 1920. It is constructed of red brick with grey sandstone dressings, with slate roofs and a shallow U-plan with additions to the north east.

The building is two storeys with an attic. It features stone bands at ceiling levels, a moulded wooden eaves cornice, and stone coped parapeted gables with moulded kneelers. There are large brick ridge stacks off-centre to left and right, and integral brick end stacks at the rear of the wings, all with stone caps.

The south east entrance front has a 2:1:1:1:2 bay arrangement with projecting gabled wings. The centre bay is slightly projecting and carries an open triangular pediment on flat shaped brackets against the wall, with a round-arched window in the tympanum. This window has a moulded architrave with impost blocks and keystone. Glazing bar sashes feature exposed boxes and thick bars (except for two late 18th-century replacements on the ground floor to the left), with stone cills and gauged brick heads with triple keystones. The central first floor window has a moulded architrave and single horizontal-sliding glazing bar sashes. The central entrance is a mid-18th-century half-glazed Gothick door with two lower raised and fielded panels and three cusped ogee-headed lights, with a doorcase featuring a lugged architrave, frieze and triangular pediment. An early 20th-century gabled addition set back to the right comprises three storeys and two bays. The left-hand return front has three bays with blind segmental-headed windows except for a central first floor glazing bar sash.

The north west garden front has been slightly altered in the early 20th century and features a balustraded parapet to the centre. It is arranged in a 3:1:3 bay pattern with glazing bar sashes with 20th-century tiled cills and segmental heads. The central bay is slightly projecting and carries a wooden balustrade to the centre of the parapet and a door with six raised and fielded panels, moulded architrave, radial fanlight and flush keystone. Flanking the door are narrow six-pane windows. An early 20th-century addition to the left has a projecting two-storey semi-circular bay with a balustraded parapet. 18th-century lead downpipes with moulded rainwater heads are present.

The interior is exceptionally well preserved from the early 18th century. The entrance hall features raised and fielded wainscot panelling, with the fireplace wall fully panelled with dado rail and moulded cornice. Some reordered 17th-century panelling with inscribed letters within lozenges is present. The fireplace consists of a moulded depressed-arched marble surround with raised and fielded panelled sides, imposts and moulded key, moulded architrave, and moulded dentil cornice. An archway leads into the staircase hall through a door with six raised and fielded panels, fluted architrave and radial fanlight, with a surround featuring fluted Doric pilasters and an arch with moulded architrave and keystone.

The drawing room has raised and fielded panelling and moulded cornice. The fireplace features a shallow-carved frieze to the moulded cornice, a raised and fielded panel above, and flanking fluted Doric pilasters, each supporting a short section of entablature with triglyphs and guttae. There is a round-arched buffet to the left with keystone and shaped shelves, and a segmental-arched recess to the right.

The ground floor front room to the left was remodelled in the late 18th century with a Neo-Classical marble fireplace. The dining room (probable former kitchen) has a moulded cornice and a large open fireplace with moulded segmental arch and moulded cornice.

The staircase rises through three flights around a rectangular well with landings. It features an open string with cut brackets, three turned balusters per tread (plain, twisted and fluted), turned newel posts, and a ramped and wreathed moulded handrail with a columnar bottom newel post. The back staircase rising to the attic is a dog-leg with winders, open string, two turned balusters per tread, and a moulded ramped handrail.

First floor corridors contain five segmental and round archways with panelled piers, moulded imposts and keystones. One archway features Y-tracery in the fanlight. Three bedrooms were inspected: one contains reordered 17th-century panelling with fluting and inscribed initials "INRI", "SPE" and "TSM", along with an 18th-century cornice and a fireplace with roll-moulded arch and moulded cornice. One front bedroom has a fireplace with a lugged architrave and moulded dentil cornice, with walls featuring cable-fluted Doric pilasters, a pulvinated frieze and moulded cornice, and an arched recess. Another front bedroom has a fireplace with a marble surround, lugged architrave, central key and moulded dentil cornice, with a raised and fielded panel above. It is flanked by cable-fluted pilasters without entasis, a pulvinated frieze and moulded cornice, with panelled window seats. Six-panelled doors (some with L-shaped hinges), internal panelled window shutters, and fireplaces with late 18th or early 19th-century cast iron grates are found throughout.

The attic contains what appear to be probable crucks reused as curved principals, and wall-plates or cill beams reused as purlins, probably from a former house on the site.

Whitton was the home of the Lingen family during the 16th century and the Topp family during the 17th and 18th centuries, from which time most of the present building dates. The house stands within the remains of a moat which can still be discerned to the south and contains some water to the east, with a large fish pond to the south.

Several sources record the existence of a number of reused stones in a garden wall inscribed with "I U" (John and Ursula Topp), "1727" and "1731". The Victoria County History suggests they probably came from the south front where stone dressings have been rebuilt in brick since circa 1830, but this is not proven as the south front still retains stone dressings. The inscribed stones were not located at the time of survey in July 1985.

The house forms the centrepiece of a good small country house group, including a former service block and stable block flanking the forecourt to the south, a dovecote and a barn. A small probably late 18th-century latticed wooden chinoiserie summerhouse standing in the garden to the north was dismantled for repairs at the time of survey. An 18th-century summerhouse on the hill opposite the house to the south was derelict at the time of survey; neither is included on the listing. Whitton Hall is a complete example of a small 18th-century country house, especially notable for its largely unaltered interior and its outbuildings.