Longnor Hall

Longnor Hall is a country house dated 1670, built for Sir Richard Corbett and finished around 1694 for his son, Uvedale Corbett, with alterations carried out in 1838-42 by Edward Haycock of Shrewsbury. The house is constructed of red brick with yellow and grey sandstone ashlar dressings and has a hipped plain tile roof. It follows a double pile plan of seven by five bays and comprises two storeys with attic over basement.

Exterior

The north entrance front features a tall chamfered stone plinth, chamfered quoins, a moulded floor band at ground-floor cornice level, and a moulded stone eaves cornice with 19th-century moulded cast-iron guttering. There are three large brick ridge stacks; a fourth dummy stack added for symmetry has now been removed. The front is arranged in a 2:3:2 bay composition. The windows are 18th-century glazing bar sashes, each with moulded stone architrave, pulvinated frieze and cornice. The central first-floor window has a triangular pediment.

The dominant feature is the large central shaped gable, its profile altered by Haycock, arranged in three bays. The outer windows have triangular pediments, whilst the central window is flanked by 19th-century octagonal ashlar turrets with moulded bases and capitals and stone coping. Above the centre window is an oval plaque with a carved bird and moulded architrave. A pineapple finial sits at the apex with a flagpole behind. A pair of flanking mid-19th-century brick eaves dormers have segmental-headed sashes and stone-coped shaped gables. Some basement windows retain flat-faced or chamfered mullions.

The central entrance consists of a pair of doors, each with two bolection-moulded panels, with a moulded stone architrave and stone doorcase featuring three-quarter Ionic columns supporting an entablature with carved guilloche ornament and dated soffit reading "R C 1670", a pulvinated frieze, and a large segmental pediment with a carved coat of arms in the tympanum. A flight of six stone steps has curving balustrades with moulded bases and handrails and panelled square end piers with moulded caps. An 18th-century lead downpipe between the second and third bays from the left has paterae on its fixings and a 19th-century rainwater head lettered "ERTC".

The rear park front is also arranged in 2:3:2 bays. Five dormers dating from around 1838-42 are constructed of brick with stone-coped shaped gables. The central entrance consists of a pair of half-glazed doors with moulded architrave and stone doorcase comprising corpulent fluted Corinthian pilasters, an entablature including cornice with egg and dart enrichment, and a large segmental pediment. Six stone steps have curtails to the top four steps (the lower two are later additions) and a probably 18th-century wrought-iron balustrade with stick balusters, columular newels, and ramped handrails.

The side elevations are arranged in 1:3:1 bays with windows having moulded architraves and central dormers dating from around 1840, constructed of brick with shaped gables.

Interior

The interior retains almost complete late 17th-century fittings and decoration throughout.

The entrance hall is five bays wide with bolection-moulded panels, dado rail and moulded cornice. Pairs of doors have two bolection-moulded panels, bolection-moulded architraves, pulvinated friezes and broken triangular pediments with carving in the tympana; the library doorway has a swan-necked pediment and carved tympanum with an urn above. Small doors to service stairs are located at each end. The ceiling is heavy cross-beamed with moulded plaster cornices. The fireplace has a carved bolection-moulded surround and moulded cornice.

The library displays late 18th-century Adam-style ornament. The bookcases have fluted square columns with acanthus capitals, an enriched plaster frieze with shells, swags and festoons, and an urn above each column, finished with a moulded cornice. The enriched plaster ceiling has a central rose and radial wreathed segments with urns, diagonal corners and wide strips on two sides. The fireplace has paired fluted pilasters without entasis with acanthus caps, a fluted frieze with central plaque and urns above the pilasters, a moulded cornice and a cast-iron grate.

The smoking room has 17th-century-style panelling with an 18th-century moulded cornice and ceiling beams. The 18th-century fireplace has a depressed arch, panelled sides, and a late 18th-century cast-iron grate with urns.

The drawing room, located at the centre of the south front, has painted bolection-moulded panelling with dado rail. Two pairs of double doors are arranged en filade, each having lugged architraves with carved swags in raised centres, carved friezes and cornices, and carved bolection-moulded panels above. The compartmented beamed ceiling has a moulded cornice; the central panel has an oval wreath of carved wood or moulded-plaster foliage and fruit with monograms, probably of Sir Richard Corbett, in the spandrels. The fireplace has a bolection-moulded marble surround and an overmantel consisting of a carved bolection-moulded panel with carved foliage at the base, flanking carved drops, carved crossed palms above, and flanking tall panels with lugged bases, with a carved frieze and cornice above.

The small drawing room, which was the kitchen at the time of survey in October 1985, has bolection-moulded panels and panelled doors, moulded architraves, cornices and ceiling beam, and a fireplace with bolection-moulded marble surround.

The dining room features bolection-moulded panelling with dado rail, moulded architraves and cornices, and Chinese wallpaper on two walls. The probably early 18th-century fireplace has a depressed-arched marble surround and moulded cornice. The overmantel has a pair of panelled pilasters flanking a panel with carved bolection moulding and carved festoons and cornice above, with tall panels and a pair of small doors flanking the chimneypiece. The right-hand door leads to a small room with moulded cornice and plaster ceiling with thin ribs in a geometrical pattern.

The staircase hall has wainscot panelling and moulded cornice. Two pairs of doors have bolection-moulded panels and doorcases, each consisting of a lugged architrave stopping short with scrolls, flanking enriched narrow panelled pilasters resting on tall bases with carved drops and supporting carved scroll brackets, carved frieze and cornice and broken segmental pediment.

The elaborate staircase, comparable to that at Powis Castle in Powys, comprises three flights around a square well with landings and a first-floor balustrade on two sides. It features inlaid treads and risers with moulded nosings, heavily carved closed string, heavy balusters with carved leaf decoration, carved handrail, and square newels with enriched carved panels, bases and caps. Carved wainscot panelling is ramped up to panelled dies. The landing has doorcases as in the hall but with closed segmental pediments, one of only three-quarter width. The carved cornice has egg and dart enrichment and carved consoles alternating with paterae.

There are two dog-leg service staircases: one probably late 17th-century with closed string, twisted balusters, moulded handrail and panelled square newel posts with pendants; and one probably 18th-century with pulvinated closed string, turned balusters, and square newel posts with pendants.

The bedrooms retain an almost complete survival of late 17th-century fittings and decoration including bolection-moulded wainscot panelling and fully panelled fireplace walls, fireplaces with bolection-moulded surrounds, some with pilastered and panelled overmantels, doors and architraves, and cornices. Attached small dressing rooms survive, one now converted to an Art Deco bathroom. Doors with bolection-moulded panels are found throughout the house.

Historical Context and Alterations

The windows formerly had stone mullions and transoms, as evidenced by patched architraves; the sashes probably date from the early to mid-18th century. Edward Haycock's work at the house in 1838-42 included altering the eaves, as shown by courses of 19th-century brickwork, altering the profile of the large shaped gable, and adding the dormers.

Longnor Hall is a good example of the type of plan which Sir Roger Pratt called "a double pile" and is especially notable for the completeness of its late 17th-century fittings.