Wallington Hall

Wallington Hall is a country house of complex plan with many alterations spanning several centuries. The walls are constructed in brick with rubblestone interior and plain tile roofs.

The building originated as a hall house in the early 16th century with a porch of around 1525. An Elizabethan cross wing was added to the north, which altered the original interior layout. Further internal refurbishments were carried out throughout the 18th century. The south facade was refaced in the mid-18th century, and the building was restored in 1918.

The north front presents a varied composition. At the centre is a two-and-a-half storey projecting bay of the late 16th century. To its left stands a three-storey refaced block of similar date. To the right is the sixteenth-century hall complex, terminated at its right end by a two-storey porch of around 1525.

The porch is a particularly fine example of early Tudor brickwork. It stands on a square plan and is articulated at its corners by polygonal turrets capped with tall crocketted finials. The entrance is a four-centred arched opening under a square hood, below which runs a band of decoration comprising an arcade of cusped and crocketted terracotta arches with finials; an inverted egg and dart string course; a band of diamond brick diaper between roll moulded strings with terracotta emblems; and a wide brick panel with a central diamond also decorated with terracotta motifs under an arcade course. A three-light moulded brick mullioned window with arched heads sits below a moulded hood on label stops. The parapet is crowned with a central finial on a square plinth. The corner turrets are decorated to the first floor by trefoil-headed arcades in six tiers, each terracotta arch beneath square hoods with carved spandrels. The east and west faces of the porch feature diaper brickwork, with one blocked two-light arched window and crenellated battlements.

To the left of the porch is a single bay with a door to the ground floor and a twentieth-century casement to the first floor. Next to this is an external stack serving the hall with twin restored flues and a four-centred arch containing a blocked four-centred hall bay window, now with twentieth-century fenestration in its centre. Above are two further restored twentieth-century casements. A stepped Elizabethan projecting bay occupies the centre of the facade, fitted with twentieth-century timber cross casements and a gable head decorated with moulded brick zig-zag and capped by a central polygonal finial. To the left, the facade is completed by a three-storey range of seven bays dating from the sixteenth century, now with mid-eighteenth-century sashes. The rhythm is interrupted by two crenellated projections, the eastern one with a second-storey three-light timber mullioned window under a square hood on labels.

The east gable wall dates from around 1525 and features a stepped gable with a brick moulded zig-zag course below the steps. The wall projects to accommodate an external stack which is checked in brick with carstone to the eaves, a frieze of terracotta arches and engaged crenellation. Triple polygonal flues on a square plinth sit above matching decoration.

The south front is a three-storey, six-bay facade of mid-eighteenth-century date with crenellations, concealing a sixteenth-century core. The central four bays retain sashes with glazing bars, whilst the remainder feature twentieth-century timber mullion windows. A stepped gable to the west of this homogeneous block is accompanied by a gabled roof and quadruple octagonal flues to a ridge stack. To the left is the south side of the early sixteenth-century hall in two storeys with two twentieth-century dormers. A central four-light restored timber cross casement sits under a hood on labels at ground floor level, with two early nineteenth-century sashes to the upper floor, one of which is tripartite. To the right is a full-height dais stair turret with one original arched light under a hipped roof. A stepped west gable and external stack sit adjacent to an internal ridge stack.

The interior contains noteworthy features. The dining room, which was originally the hall, retains sixteenth-century panelling with Ionic pilasters at intervals carved with low relief strapwork. A stone fireplace dating from around 1570 features a four-centred hearth and double frieze punctuated by four square brackets. The friezes are carved with floral strapwork and the brackets with low relief medallion heads. The elaborate overmantel consists of a central square panel with an achievement flanked by tapering pilasters (designed as statue pedestals), a fluted shell niche on each side, and further paired tapering pilasters. The panelling, fireplace and overmantel are not in situ. The transverse bridging beams are roll moulded with running-leaf carving, whilst the longitudinal bridging beams and joists are double wave moulded.

The dais staircase of timber retains only its upper part in original form. This has been replaced by an open cut staircase in the western block dating from 1790, featuring plain tread ends, square newels, column-on-vase balusters and ramped handrails.

The sitting room dates from 1790 and retains its Rococo character. The fireplace features a marble slip, shouldered architrave and festoon frieze, with plaster wall panels divided by foliate tresses.

The two eastern rooms, now designated the smoking room, are fitted with roll and hollow moulded bridging beams and joists.