Astley Hall

Astley Hall is a small country house, now a nursing home, dating to the mid-19th century, with early 20th-century additions. The house is constructed of ashlar with a slate roof, and includes a main block and a link to an L-shaped stable wing. It presents a Jacobean facade, featuring a three-storey, three-bay centre block and two-storey, single-bay wings. The wings have cornices, parapets, and shaped gables. Moulded plinths and cornices run along the ground and first floors, and there are two- and three-light mullioned and transomed windows. Angled bay windows are present in the outer bays of the main block, and the outer bays of the wings have slight forward projections. The gables of the outer bays have small architraved vents, whilst the centre bays feature keyed wreaths. A two-storey porch sits centrally, with a segmental pediment and three Ionic columns on the first floor. The doorway has a rusticated arch with jewelled blocks and an Ionic motif above the keystone; similar detailing is present around the windows. Flanking the porch are a two-light transomed window and Ionic pilasters, with a band of strapwork and jewelled ornament forming aprons to the first floor. To the right is a Tudor arched garden entrance with finials and brackets; to the left, a slightly later cross-gabled extension containing a clock. A later brick stable range is also present with stone dressings. The right-hand return has a triangular bay window. The garden front is plainer, featuring a two-storey pedimented porch containing a coat of arms. Another extension to the right incorporates a first-floor, three-bay Ionic loggia with an arched central bay beneath a gable. Further right, a rendered pavilion may conceal a water tower, featuring a short arcade of three rounded arches. Decorative shafting is present on the grouped chimneys. Inside, the entrance lobby has a Jacobean strapwork ceiling. The date “S L B 1912” on the porch refers to Stanley Baldwin's acquisition and additions to the house. Baldwin, who served as Prime Minister three times, lived at Astley Hall from 1902 until his death in 1947. The porch’s design is reminiscent of that at Grafton.