Raynham Hall, North East Service Wing And Wall

Raynham Hall, north-east service wing and wall is a country house begun in 1619, with reconstruction on a different site in 1622. It was structurally complete by 1637, the year of Sir Roger Townshend's death, who was both patron and part architect, working with stonemason William Edge. The design anticipates later domestic Classicism and combines late Mannerist forms with early Inigo Jones Palladianism, particularly evident in the east portico. In around 1731, after William Kent’s work at Houghton, William Kent remodelled the interior and added a service wing for the 2nd Marquis of Townshend.

The house is constructed of red brick with stone dressings, featuring slated and leaded roofs. The brickwork is largely in Flemish bond, except for the English bond on the south wing's first floor and two bays on the east front flanking the portico, which were recorded in a different form in 1672. The building has an overall "H" plan, with a half basement and two storeys plus attics. The west entrance front has a seven-bay centre with stone-dressed windows on the ground and mezzanine floors. The attic features an entablature with seven windows and a central pedimented gable with an oculus, flanked by smaller half-pediments. The central doorcase, dating from around 1680, displays a cartouche bearing Sir Roger Townshend’s arms. It is ornamented with Ionic half columns, a carved entablature frieze, and a swan-necked pediment. The outer arms of the "H" plan consist of two-storey, two-bay sections with attics and Dutch gables at each corner, incorporating modillioned pediments and unorthodox console supports consisting of sinuously curved Ionic pilasters.

The south return has seven bays, three attic dormers, and a central segmental pedimented doorcase with rusticated pilasters, stylistically dating from around 1680. The north return features three storeys, three attic dormers, and a pedimented Tuscan Doric doorcase. The east front’s central three-bay, three-storey section is constructed of stone and relates to Inigo Jones’s Prince’s Lodging at Newmarket design of 1619-21. It exhibits rusticated stonework on the ground floor, ashlar above, Ionic half-columns, and a modillioned pediment. The configuration of windows is three on the ground floor, a Serliana arrangement on the Piano Nobile, and three in the attic. Flanking wings have two bays each, with balustrade parapets and ball finials. The outer wings are Dutch gabled.

The interior, remodelled by William Kent, features a seven-bay, one-and-a-half-storey hall replacing original screens and a passage hall arrangement. A ground-floor salon lies along the central axis behind the east portico, leading to a first-floor Beli sarius Room with a c.1680 stucco compartment ceiling containing Kent’s paintings. A stone-treaded, metal-balustered staircase with painted panels is located on the north side. Also featured is a Kent dining room with a Triumphal Arch screen. A dog-leg panelled staircase is found on the south side. The south wing includes three enfilade Kent rooms, including a panelled Library. A north service court has a single-storey, three-bay brick wing and an attached brick wall with ogee brick coping. A similar wing to the south leads to a separate listed service wing.