Kimberley House Including Service Wings To North West And South East

Kimberley House is a country house located in Wymondham, constructed in 1712 by William Talman, with corner towers added in 1754 following Thomas Prowse's design based on Talman's original plans. The house is built of brick with stone dressings, featuring a lead and felt roof. The main, north-east facing front has three storeys, with an additional storey within the corner towers. It is arranged with nine bays, the central three projecting forward beneath a pediment. The corner towers, projecting to the north-east and south-west, are flush with the returns of the five-bay facade. Bays are divided by platbands. A portico with four Ionic columns, designed by Fletcher Watson in 1951, provides access to the central door, which is above a window set within an open segmental pediment. The windows are sash windows with glazing bars, each with a gauged skewback arch. A main pediment displays a coat of arms, and a plain parapet conceals a flat roof. The house has symmetrically arranged stacks, and the corner towers have hipped slate roofs. The south-west, or garden, facade is similar but simpler in design, with a central French window approached by a balustrade that extends across the width of the house. Quadrangular wings extend to the north and south of the entrance front, linked to the main house by quadrants designed by Anthony Salvin in 1835. These quadrants are single-storey with a basement, featuring a sloping slate roof to the rear and sash windows with glazing bars. The quadrangular wings are two-storey structures with slate hipped roofs, five bays, and a central three-bay projection beneath a pediment on each side except for the north return of the north wing and the south return of the south wing. Their windows are sash windows with glazing bars under gauged skewback arches. A courtyard within the north wing has been infilled, while the south wing was restored in 1958. The interior of the house largely retains the original room disposition of three rooms, each with three bays, on each floor. A two-storey entrance hall and staircase, also by James Fletcher Watson (1951), features an imperial staircase with turned balusters leading to a screen of two Corinthian columns and two pilasters at the first floor. The plastered ceiling is further detailed with elements by Watson elsewhere. A north-east room, dating to 1770 and attributed to John Sanderson, incorporates a very fine frieze adorned with paired lions, urns, and scrolled foliage. Above one door is a plaster relief panel depicting Moses in the bullrushes, while opposite is a doorway flanked by Corinthian columns supporting a pediment, with relief scenes of classical figures in the frieze. A recess is flanked by paired Corinthian columns and caryatid figures supporting a plastered ceiling. Adjacent to this recess is an octagonal room by Sanderson within the north tower, designed to house a china collection and featuring a plaster ceiling. The main staircase in the south-east tower, dating from 1754, has a coffered domed ceiling, also likely by Sanderson, and a wrought-iron balustrade with waterleaf detailing. The house also incorporates extensive basements with groined vaults.