Rainthorpe Hall Including Garden Wall With Gate And Gate Piers

Rainthorpe Hall is a large mansion begun in 1503, and subsequently refurbished by Thomas Baxter between 1579 and 1611, extended and restored by Frederick Walpole between 1852 and 1876. The building is constructed of diaper patterned brick with ashlar dressings, and appears to have a timber-framed upper floor, with plaintiled roofs. The general layout is roughly east-west, featuring an off-centre three-storey porch (the top storey being from the 19th century) and a polygonal stair turret directly opposite the rear elevation. A two-storey bay is present to one side of the porch, and another dated 1695 to the opposite side, with a 19th-century wing extending from the north side of the rear.

The porch has polygonal angle buttresses set on stone bases and crowned with cupolas, incorporating two moulded stone stringcourses and a Perpendicular entrance with a four-centred arch within stuccoed brickwork. The arch is surrounded by traceried spandrels and has polygonal label stops. The fenestration is mainly 19th century, employing ovolo-moulded stone mullion and transom windows, some retaining original ashlar reveals and wooden window frames with mullions and mullion-and-transom bars. Several gabled dormers are present. The building has two axial stacks in the main wing, gable-end stacks to the side wings, and one lateral stack to the porch – all featuring decorative shafts.

Inside, a Perpendicular ‘oriel’ archway, reminiscent of the porch entrance, is in the hall. A polygonal vice is found within the stair turret, and a particularly fine late 16th-century plaster ceiling with geometric ribbed patterns and bosses sits on the first floor. The main wing has a clasped purlin roof, while the later side wings have butt-purlin roofs. Large areas of panelling in a 16th-century style are present, incorporating some original fragments. The interior also contains 19th-century chimney-pieces and doors showcasing carved Renaissance woodwork of varying quality and origin. Numerous windows contain high-quality stained glass, dating from the 13th to the 19th centuries.

A brick garden wall runs along the south-east corner of the house and includes a single wrought-iron gate, likely dating from the 17th century. The gate has an elaborate double scrolled overthrow with waterleaf and acanthus decoration, a central panel with scrolled interlace, decorative side panels, a scrolled middle rail, and an arrowhead dograil.