Mountnessing Hall And Attached Walls, Railings And Gates

Mountnessing Hall and Attached Walls, Railings and Gates

A country house of late 16th-century origin, substantially extended and altered during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The building is constructed of timber-framed and plastered work with an 18th-century facade and 18th and early 19th-century additions of red brick in Flemish bond. The roof is covered with handmade red clay tiles, with some areas of red clay pantiles.

The building comprises a 2-bay main range facing approximately south with an internal stack at the front left; a 2-bay cross-wing to the left, with an early 19th-century extension featuring an axial stack to the rear and a 19th-century single-storey lean-to beyond; and a 2-bay cross-wing to the right, which was formerly fitted with an external stack now enclosed by an 18th-century extension. Along the full width of the rear is an early 19th-century extension of red brick up to first-floor level, with timber-framed and plastered work above. An early 19th-century 2-storey garderobe stands at the rear. The building is of 2 storeys with attics and a half-cellar.

The main elevation displays 6 late 18th-century sash windows on the ground floor and 7 similar sashes on the first floor, all of 6+6 lights with segmental arches, along with a blank recess in the middle of the first floor painted to imitate a window. A central 20th-century door in 18th-century style is set within a simple doorcase with a moulded flat canopy on moulded brackets, approached by 3 limestone steps and furnished with a wrought-iron bootscraper set into the top step. A plain boarded door serves the right extension. The central portion of the main elevation, corresponding with part of the main range, is set back; the left cross-wing is integrated with the stack, whilst the right cross-wing and 18th-century extension form an approximately equal projection forward. A plain parapet surmounts the front, above which rises a hipped roof incorporating one 20th-century skylight and one 20th-century casement in a hipped dormer. The right stack features 3 grouped diagonal shafts. The right return contains one 18th-century sash of 6+6 lights on each floor.

The rear elevation displays a wooden hatch and a large blocked aperture on the ground floor, along with one early 19th-century sash of 8+8 lights. The first floor has 2 early 19th-century tripartite sashes of 2+2, 4+4 and 2+2 lights, one sash of 6+6 lights, and one late 19th-century sash of 4+4 lights. The garderobe has a plain door in a semicircular arched reveal on the ground floor and one early 19th-century casement on the first floor; its roof is topped with a large rivetted tank of corresponding plan area, originally supplied by rainwater from the main roof. The right elevation of the rear wing displays 3 early 19th-century sashes of 8+8 lights and one 19th-century casement on the ground floor, and one early 19th-century sash of 6+6 lights on the first floor. Many of the windows retain handmade glass panes, and small areas of 19th-century chevron-patterned plaster survive on the rear and right elevations.

Two red brick walls extend forward from the main range enclosing the garden. They are joined at the front by a continuous range of early 19th-century iron railings with fleur-de-lys terminals mounted on a dwarf wall, with a matching central gate.

The interior has been substantially altered in the 18th century to create a large central entrance hall. The original axial beam, chamfered with lamb's tongue stops, terminates short of the right wall and is supported by a jowled prick post and an octagonal post with lamb's tongue stops; the joists are plastered to the soffits. The hearth to the left features a late 18th-century cast-iron fireback decorated with an embossed design of pineapples within 3 Gothic arches. The windows of the entrance hall, the adjoining room to the right, and the room above the entrance hall all have 18th-century panelled window-seats. The ground-floor room to the left is fitted with a chamfered binding beam with lamb's tongue stops and 18th-century panelled folding shutters in the window splays; its walls are lined with canvas stretched on battens, a rare survival. The room to the rear has a transverse beam supported on a framed wooden bracket. The cross-wings have clasped purlin roofs with straight wind-braces; the upper part of the roof of the right cross-wing has been altered, with a joggled butt-purlin roof from the main range extended over it to create a continuous hipped roof. The half-cellar or dairy to the rear right is fitted with an 18th-century moulded 3-plank door. An early 19th-century open-well stair with stick balusters and moulded pine handrail provides vertical circulation.