Impney Hall

Impney Hall is a country house, now a hotel, built between 1869 and 1875, with later 20th-century alterations. It was designed by Auguste Tronquois of Paris and executed by Richard Phené Spiers for John Corbett. The building is constructed of brick with ashlar dressings and has a mansard slate roof. It is in a French Renaissance style.

The garden (south-west) front has two storeys over a basement and two attic storeys. It is symmetrical, with an additional range of windows to the left. There are ten windows arranged in a 1:3:3:3 pattern, with full-height, three-window angled bays on the left and right. Most windows are two-light plate glass French casements with segmental and rubbed brick heads and keystones. Stone balconies are present to the central window and to the front of the bays, with ornate cast iron railings to the others. The central windows of the bays have a rusticated effect created by alternating bands of stone and brick, and the stone quoin pilasters flank the central window. The ground floor windows echo the above, with the rusticated effect extended to all bays save for the two central windows, which have rusticated fluted pilasters. The five central ground floor windows open onto a terrace. The basement is rusticated. The lower level of the attics has ten dormer windows with detailed surrounds in a quasi-Gothic style. The upper level of the attics has seven windows with round-headed wooden surrounds and shaped vents leading into the roof space of the cross-hipped roofs. Date stones are above the central windows of the angled bays, marked “1875”.

Much of the interior was destroyed, but at the south-east end (the entrance front) there remains a well staircase off the hall, with stained glass windows.

Impney Hall is an interesting example of a house built by a self-made Victorian industrialist. The French Château style was a short-lived and uncommon style outside of London. The original plans for the house are held within the hotel.