Barningham Hall

Barningham Hall is a country house of exceptional architectural importance, dating from 1612, when it was built for Sir Edward Paston. The building was substantially altered and enlarged in 1805 by the renowned architects H. and J.A. Repton.

The house is constructed of brick with stone dressings and features a castellated brick cornice with plain tile roof. It has a double depth plan, five bays, two storeys, and two attic floors, with distinctive crow-stepped gables throughout. The principal facade faces west and presents a symmetrical composition: the central bay breaks forward and rises to a two-storeyed dormer with crow-stepped gable. The outer bays (1, 2, 4 and 5) have two-storeyed crow-stepped gable dormers with clasping polygonal buttresses. All windows are set in stone surrounds with pedimented heads, mullions, and transoms. The ground and first-floor windows in bays 1, 2, 4 and 5 have five lights, with those in bays 1 and 5 being canted; the window over the doorway has four lights; the lower attic windows have three lights; and the upper attic windows have two lights without transoms.

The central doorway is the architectural focal point: a semicircular porch arch in stone bears the date 1612 on spandrel shields, with extended imposts and a pediment decorated with strapwork frieze supported by brackets. Above this, in stone, are the arms of Paston impaling Berney with the motto "De meux en meux" beneath, supported by columns. The angles of the facade and the projecting central bay are articulated by clasping brick polygonal stepped buttresses, with steps delineated by stone string courses, moulded stone plinth caps, and rising to onion-capped stone finial shafts. Similar finials crown the dormers and their clasping buttresses.

The south front was originally only two bays but was extended to three bays by Repton in 1805. The Reptons inserted canted bay windows to bay 1 and a central oriel window, making the facade now appear symmetrical. The central ground-floor window is mullioned and transomed with four lights and reaches to the ground. The canted bay windows at bays 1 and 3, on both ground and first floors, have four lights, as does the central oriel window—all situated beneath brick embattled parapets. Clasping polygonal buttresses and finials matching those on the west facade appear at the corners and flanking the central bay. A crow-stepped gabled dormer with a two-light window sits above the central bay. The crow-stepped gables of the first and third bays feature three-light windows to the lower attic floor and two-light windows to the upper attic floor (the latter being dummy). Flanking the central bay are two stacks of four octagonal brick shafts, each with oversailing star caps.

The east front includes a third-bay addition by Repton in 1805. Its most prominent feature is a large canted bay beneath a brick embattled parapet with a five-light mullioned and transomed window. The first floor has three windows: the central window has three lights, whilst those to bays 1 and 3 have two lights each. A crow-stepped gable crowns a single-storeyed dormer with a three-light window. A clasping polygonal shaft with finial rises at the angle of the third bay.

The north facade, facing the courtyard, is of double depth with gabling to the right and varied fenestration.

The interior was substantially altered by Repton in 1805. The porch contains a stone vault of 1805 and a six-panelled door with three glazed upper panels beneath a four-centred arch. The hall features a rear arch with arcading incorporating Gothick ogees, a heraldic fireplace with panelling to the north, and fleur-de-lys coving. The imperial staircase, dating to 1805, has a closed string with open ogee arches between square-sectioned balusters. The ground newel posts support large 15th-century oak statues of Elizabeth of Hungary (right) and St. Anne (left), whilst the upper newel posts carry smaller statues of apostles. The stair window contains some 17th-century fragments of Flemish glass.

The front room to the south has a four-centred fireplace arch lined with 17th-century moulded terracotta tiles. The chimneypiece is stone with marble scroll work additions and a central Italian marble plaque in relief depicting Belissarius. The rear room, known as the Repton room, features wide fluted coving. A 17th-century staircase is located to the rear of bay 2.

On the first floor, the front room to bay 1 retains 17th-century panelling and a delicate strapwork plaster ceiling with a four-centred arch to the fireplace. The three central bays of the front originally formed a single room, now subdivided, decorated in the Gothick taste by Repton in 1805.