Anstey Hall

Anstey Hall is a country house built about 1685, extended in the 1860s, and remodelled in 1909 by W C Marshall with internal work by Lawrence Turner, Robert Weir Schultz and F R Leach & Sons.

The building is constructed of handmade red brick laid in English bond with stone dressings and a roof covering of red plain tiles.

Plan and Development

Anstey Hall consists of the long principal range of around 1685 with two south wings forming a half H-shaped plan. The recess between the wings was infilled in 1909. A two-storey east extension was added in the 1860s and further extended in the early 20th century. A single-storey extension to the east dates to the early 21st century.

Exterior

The two-storey house has an attic and basement. The hipped roof is surmounted by tall red brick chimney stacks with oversailing dentilled brick courses and square clay pots.

The north entrance front is symmetrical, arranged in nine bays, with the middle bay projecting slightly. This central bay is elaborated with rusticated stone quoins and inset lofty engaged Ionic columns on rusticated pedestals supporting a pediment with a modillion-cornice. In the tympanum is a cartouche carved with the arms of the Thompson family. The wall continues up above the pediment as an attic with two pedestals on the face surmounted by pineapple finials. The central six-panelled door, approached up steps, has a stone surround and scroll-brackets supporting a segmental pediment enriched with egg-and-dart moulding.

The rest of the front flanking the centrepiece has a plinth with moulded weathering, rusticated quoins, a platband at first-floor level and a modillion-cornice, all of stone, with lead-covered box guttering simulating a blocking-course. The window openings are uniform throughout, with stone architraves and sills, and contain double-hung sashes with thick glazing-bars: nine-over-six panes on the ground floor and nine-over-nine panes on the first floor. On the roof are six dormer windows with segmental and triangular timber pediments alternating outwards from the centrepiece, dating to the Marshall alterations.

Adjoining the left (east) side is a 19th-century four-bay extension of two storeys plus an attic in a similar style. It has a hipped roof at the east end with three dormer windows, the central one with a triangular pediment flanked by segmental ones. The six-over-six pane horned sash windows have slender glazing bars, gauged brick arches and stone sills. A small single-storey projection under a hipped roof extends at right angles from the fourth bay and is lit by three sash windows. It has been extended by a further two bays in the 20th century.

The south (garden) front has a continuous brick platband at first-floor level, and the two-bay wings have coved eaves-cornices and hipped roofs. The three-bay recessed centre, added in 1909, has a double-height bow window with a window to the left and a panelled, partly glazed door to the right. This is set within a semi-circular stone surround, framed by a triangular pediment supported by attenuated square pilasters with Ionic capitals. At first-floor level, the bow window is flanked by two sash windows. The fenestration on the south front, redone by Marshall in 1909, consists of six-over-nine pane sashes with wide glazing bars, gauged brick arches and external blind boxes. Emerging above the recessed centre are the upper parts of the two original re-entrant projections; these have cornices and roofs similar to those of the wings. The two lofty chimney stacks rising in between these roofs are in part rebuilt. To the right (east), is the 1860s three-bay extension in a similar style with a hipped roof lit by two dormer windows with triangular pediments. The ground floor projects slightly forming a balcony with stone balustrades, an alteration dating to the early 20th century. The windows are multi-pane sashes, dating to 1935. The five highly ornate lamps attached to the south front are not original to the building.

The platband and eaves-cornice continue from the south elevation across the west gable end. This is partly concealed by a small single-storey extension with a half-conical roof, added around the early 20th century. The projecting chimney stack, which is probably of the same date, links with an original stack at eaves level; the former impinges upon the stone architrave of a small casement window on the first floor; the upper courses of the latter have been rebuilt.

Adjoining the east end is a single-storey, three-bay pavilion, added in the early 20th century, which has a hipped roof with exposed rafter feet. It is lit by six-over-six pane horned sashes.

Interior

The interior alterations have been extensive, and the panelling, doors and fireplace surrounds in many of the rooms, whilst of late 17th-century character, date to the 1909 refitting by Marshall, working with the assistance of Turner and Schultz. The painting was carried out by the firm F R Leach.

The north entrance door opens into a large central hall, taking up five window bays, which has been created from two rooms. A carved wood panel above the door bears the date 1909. The marble floor is in the pattern carreaux d'octagones and the walls are lined with bolection-moulded panelling in two heights of panels with dado-rail and cornice, stripped of paint. The fireplace has a bolection-moulded wood surround with pulvinated frieze and cornice-shelf and an overmantel with a similarly moulded panel flanked by broad panelled pilasters under a deep panelled frieze and a return of the main cornice. It is temporarily covered by a salvaged fireplace and overmantel of early 18th-century date, added in the late 20th century.

The library, which occupies the two western bays, is lined with bookcases made in 2005 and carefully pinned over the 1909 bolection moulded panelling. It contains two restored fireplace surrounds, also similar to that in the hall, but of marble and wood and without the panelled frieze. They have salvaged elaborate cast iron grates and blue-and-white tiled cheeks. The elaborate plaster ceiling, created by Turner in 1909, has deeply raised plasterwork of flowers and foliage forming a geometric pattern of semicircles and octagons, half the sides of which are concave. The ceiling roses have scrolled pendants from which to suspend light fittings. The library and the hall both retain window shutters. The ornate cast-iron radiators are modern reproductions installed in 2009.

The room on the south front lit by the bow window (which replaced the conservatory between the south wings in 1909) is used as a bar. It has a dentilled cornice and is lined with square walnut panelling, designed and made by Rattee and Kent. It has been partly removed in one corner to create shelves. The bar counter itself is a reused hatmaker's bench. The stone surround of the dominant Jacobean-style fireplace is carved with flowing foliage and is flanked by pairs of fluted pilasters. The panelled overmantel has pairs of attached columns with Corinthian capitals supporting a dentilled cornice.

The room in the south-east corner, formerly the dining room, has exposed intersecting moulded oak ceiling-beams and is lined in large part with reset early 17th-century panelling, seven panels high, fixed upside down. In the north wall is an early 18th-century-style recess with an elliptical head flanked by round-headed doorways with panelled side-pilasters and moulded intrados with scrolled key-blocks, designed by Marshall in 1909. The early 18th-century fireplace has a flat panelled surround of stone with a key-block. In the corridor outside, the square panelling and Art Nouveau panelling are both salvaged, installed in the early 21st century.

The east extension, added in the 1860s, retains some features from this date, including parquet floors, a butler's pantry with fitted shelves, deeply moulded ceiling cornices and several wood fireplaces, one with a carved frieze and an arcaded overmantel. The secondary dogleg stair has a panelled soffit, closed string and barley twist balusters.

The principal staircase, dating to 1909, is accessed from the main hall through one of a pair of elliptical arches with keystones bearing the head of a horned beast and swags in the spandrels. The open well stair has a quarter-pace landing, winders at the first turn, and a panelled dado. It has a closed string with barley twist balusters and substantial square panelled newel posts with shallow pyramidal caps.

The first floor has also had numerous alterations to its configuration, and much of the joinery, plasterwork and decorative finishes dates to the 20th century, some to the 1909 renovation. Numerous panelled window shutters and panelled doors survive, as well as three lugged doorframes with deeply moulded pulvinated friezes and broken pediments on the long, narrow landing, added in 1909. The long principal north-facing room (originally three rooms) is lined with 17th-century-style panelling, made by the current owner, as are the two fireplace surrounds, although the inserts are older, one retaining an early 19th-century hobgrate.

The corridor occupying the two eastern bays of the 17th-century house contains a small lobby in an elaborate classical style, added in 1909. Each corner is defined by panelled, square, attached columns with moulded architraves from which spring semi-circular fanlights. These are filled with geometric tracery and have a moulded intrados with scrolled keystones, and foliate plasterwork in the spandrels. From here, the corridor along the east range is lined with panelling forming a series of semi-circular arches, all painted black and gold by the current owner. This form of panelling has also been added to the room in the south-east wing which has a delicately enriched plaster ceiling created by Turner in 1909.