Orangery At Ingestre Hall

ORANGERY AT INGESTRE HALL

Orangery, probably circa 1770. Attributed to Samuel and Joseph Wyatt, built for the Hon. Catherine Talbot, adapting a design by James Stuart. The building is constructed of brick, with the front south-east elevation and return elevations clad in limestone ashlar; the rear elevation is bare brick. It features pitched glazed roofs and metal-framed windows, both thought to date from the 19th century.

EXTERIOR

The long rectangular structure is a single storey with a central section of nine bays flanked by tripartite pavilions, raised on three steps. The nine central bays are defined by Tuscan pilasters and are glazed. The three bays of the pedimented pavilions are also defined by pilasters; at the centre of each pavilion is a replacement door contained within a moulded doorframe with console brackets rising from acanthus leaves and supporting a flat hood. To either side of the door is a round-headed niche; a watercolour of 1823 shows these once held urns. Above the doors and niches are plain friezes; above these, rectangular panels. A narrow dentilled eaves cornice runs along the front elevation, continuing around each return elevation and the ends of the rear elevation. The ashlar-clad return elevations are defined by clasping pilasters with 2 additional pilasters in between. The red-brick elevation has applied porticos to each end, each pair of single pilasters framing a doorway with plain stone lintel. The long central section has a moulded stone cornice, beneath which is a series of cast iron grilles; the central projecting chimney stack is a later addition.

INTERIOR

The floor is paved with stone flags with areas demarcated by bull-nosed stone edging and iron grilles covering 19th-century heating pipes. The long central section is separated from the pavilions by arched openings. The glass roof of the main section is supported on a complex late-19th-century timber structure of braces forming Gothic arches.

HISTORY

The orangery stands to the north-east of Ingestre Hall, a substantial country house built in the 17th century, altered in the early 19th century, and largely rebuilt after a fire in 1882. Originally the home of the Chetwynd family, the house passed to the Talbots in 1767. The estate benefited from the attention of several distinguished architects and designers: the church is attributed to Christopher Wren, early-19th-century alterations to the house were undertaken by John Nash, and in the 1750s the grounds were laid out by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. The orangery was built for Catherine, daughter of the 2nd Viscount Chetwynd and widow of the Hon. John Talbot, who owned the house from 1767 until her death in 1785. The orangery is very similar to one built at the neighbouring estate of Blithfield circa 1769 by Samuel and possibly James Wyatt to the design of James Stuart, known as 'Athenian' Stuart for his scholarly promotion of the Greek style in architecture and design. Substantial works were undertaken to the orangery in the 19th century, when the current roofs and windows are thought to have been inserted.