Yaxley Hall

Yaxley Hall is a country house of complex build sequence, originally constructed around 1580 for W. Yaxley with earlier origins and 17th-century additions made for the Yaxley family. Part of the structure was rebuilt in 1772 for Reverend S. Leeke. Significant portions were demolished and altered in 1923 following a fire, and further alterations were made in 1963 by Sir Basil Spence for himself.

The building comprises red brick sections with some cement rendering, and earlier timber-frame elements that are plastered. Steeply pitched slate roofs cover the structure. The complex plan originally consisted of an E-shaped or half H-shaped arrangement with two additional outer crosswings added in the late 16th century, small additions to earlier two-bay cross wings in the 16th and 17th centuries, and a main range replaced in 1772 by a forward-projecting Gothick block. The left wings were demolished in 1923. The house now appears as three distinct builds: an 18th-century block with two earlier cross wings to the right.

The structure is two storeys with attics. The 18th-century block to the left has a three-bay front with a central entrance featuring a glazing bar sash with opening panels below. The doorcase has an inner scrolled architrave and outer pilasters with finely ornamented capitals, topped by an open dentilled pediment. A rendered moulded string course runs at the level of ground floor window heads, continuing from the earlier wings. Thin glazing bar sashes sit in flush moulded frames. On the first floor, a centrally positioned blocked opening originally had a Gothick ogee head, flanked by two-light metal frame casements with ogee-headed lights featuring upper cusped lights with depressed arched heads. A dentilled and embattled parapet crowns this section. A timber cupola with a bell sits centrally on the ridge, topped by a cornice leading to a leaded ogee cap with weathervane. A cross-axial ridge stack stands at the right end, with the roof continuing over the first cross wing.

The left gable end was largely rebuilt in 1923 with an entrance towards the front, featuring reused early 19th-century double panelled doors in a pilastered and open pedimented doorcase. Reused early red brick with soldier courses sits above 20th-century glazing bar sashes. A coped gable parapet sweeps down towards the rear, covering a 20th-century six-light leaded mullion and transom window with stained glass. A slightly projecting 20th-century staircase addition features a similar four-light window to the rear. The main range to the rear has a two-light leaded casement with a cambered head and 20th-century windows.

The early cross wing to the front right was extended forward in the 16th century by one bay and now sits slightly set back. It features plastered timber frame with two bays of thick glazing bar sashes in flush moulded frames and a moulded string course. A small three-light attic window with pointed arched lights and a finialled bargeboarded gable marks this section, which has a separate ridge to the earlier section behind the front bay.

Further right stands the circa 1580 brick wing with a flush front. It is cement rendered with scoring to resemble ashlar. A continuing moulded string course forms part of a hoodmould over a ground floor eight-light mullion and transom leaded window. The first floor eight-light mullion and transom window, enlarged in the 18th century, contains hexagonal leaded panes with a slightly cambered head and a projecting surround topped by a 19th-century cornice. The attic features a blind six-light opening with chamfered mullions and transom within a square surround with a cornice to a pediment bearing three 19th-century finials. Moulded kneelers with 19th-century finials frame a shaped gable with a lower concave curve stepping to an upper convex curve. The left kneeler is higher, sitting over an earlier cross wing. A 19th-century stack occupies the valley between the cross wings.

The right return exposes brick in English bond with 19th and 20th-century repairs. A large early external stack features an arched oven recess to a former bakehouse, repaired with double offsets to the shaft. 20th-century openings sit on the ground floor. A moulded eaves cornice faces towards the rear. The rear gable end displays a first floor eight-light mullion and transom window with leaded lights, featuring original rendered ovolo moulded mullions and transom with outer chamfer. Kneelers support a coped gable parapet.

Attached to the rear is a single-storey outbuilding with a pantiled roof and a pump affixed to its rear end. The earlier cross wing includes a 17th-century section towards the rear. The inner return contains early 19th-century Gothick casement windows of three and five-lights with trefoiled heads, alongside a similar 20th-century door. The rear gable end features a ground floor pantiled outshut and a first floor similar three-light casement with a tall sash, topped by a pentice board beneath a very steeply pitched gable.

Internally, the ground floor between the front and the two early bays of the first cross wing contains a late 16th-century brick wall with a red brick doorway featuring an almost round arch with double ovolo moulded surround and impost blocks. The second cross wing retains a restored depressed arched fireplace with hollow and ovolo mouldings. The 18th-century block contains a good drawing room with a chimney piece featuring a lugged architrave, finely moulded mantelpiece, and corbelled Gothick cornice.

A mid-18th-century staircase from Swattesfield Hall, Thornham (now demolished and not listed), was reset and altered in 1923. It features turned balusters, capped newel posts, and a moulded ramped handrail swept out at the base. The first floor displays fragments of reset stained glass, including one piece dated 1583. The bay added to the front of the early wing shows an early scarf joint and evidence of close studding. The earlier roof to the two bays behind has simple coupled rafters and collars with no longitudinal members, while the added bays employ butt and clasped purlins. A large barrel-vaulted room on the first floor of the late 16th-century cross wing features 20th-century plasterwork in 16th-century style executed by Sir Basil Spence, with crossed strips incorporating vine scrolls and birds.