Mersham Le Hatch

Country house designed by Robert Adam for Sir Wyndham and (after 1763) Sir Edward Knatchbull, built 1762–1766 with interiors completed in 1772. Altered in 1827 and 1872. Built of red brick with Portland stone dressings and slate roof.

The house is planned as a large rectangular central block linked by narrow, straight balustraded corridors to rectangular flanking wings, with a service court beyond to the east (in the parish of Smeeth).

The entrance front presents a central block of two storeys with basement and attic. A banded plinth with simple frieze and cornice parapet supports the main walls, which are topped by a hipped roof with a central projecting pediment. Two pedimented dormers were added in 1827, with chimney stacks to left and right. The elevation is regularly fenestrated across seven bays, with the central three bays projecting slightly below the pediment. Throughout, glazing bar sashes sit in moulded surrounds, with double-size windows to the ground floor flanked by cornices either side of the doorcase. The entrance door is a double three-panelled door with a semi-circular fanlight set within a pedimented Tuscan surround. A flight of nine moulded steps leads to the central three bays, with wrought iron rails terminating in scrolled baluster-shaped lamp stands flanking the side walls.

The linking corridors on left and right are of one storey with basement, continuing the banded plinth and carrying a cornice to a balustraded parapet. Each corridor is lit by a single glazing bar sash flanked by semi-circular headed niches containing statues of the seasons (draped women). Two-storey and basement end partitions feature stone bands and cornices topped by pyramidal roofs, with pedimented dormers to the left and right returns and a central stack. Three glazing bar sashes light each floor. A basement area with spear-head rails runs the full length of the front.

The garden front, shaped by the slope of the ground, is described as "less of a Palladian cliché". The elevation is fully three-storeyed, with the main block projecting strongly—four bays to the left and five to the right. A seven-bay front includes a central three-bay full-height bow, with the centre bay on the first floor crowned by a pediment. At ground floor level, a balustraded loggia with paired Tuscan columns was added in 1872 by J. P. St. Aubyn, with doubled panelled doors at the centre. The corridors here feature three glazing bar sashes (two to the ground floor with a doorway), and plain rectangular three-bay end pavilions are extended at both ends by storey-height brick walls to service courtyards. The principal courtyard lies to the left, featuring large stacks and pyramidal-roofed outhouses with louvred cupola and round-headed windows, with arched entrances to the main elevation. This portion is located within Smeeth parish.

Interior decoration was undertaken between 1766 and 1772. The chimney pieces are by Thomas Carter, and the plasterwork by Joseph Rose.

The main entrance hall retains a triglyph and metope cornice, though its plaster ceiling is lost. Double doors lead to the staircase hall, which has a semi-circular fanlight and fluted pilaster doorcase with frieze and cornice, flanked by round-headed niches. Large consoled fireplaces feature pedimented tabernacles over containing grisaille paintings of a Roman marriage and sacrifice by Zucchi. Typical Neo-classical frieze and cornices surround the fluted panelled doors and curtain pelmets.

The staircase rises from the basement to an oval skylight in a square well, with an iron balustrade carried on large sunk-panelled piers on an open string with Vitruvian scroll enrichment on the tread ends. The hand rail is ramped and moulded, with Ionic loggias on the top landing. A simple geometric stair occupies the side well, and turned baluster stairs serve the end pavilion.

The dining room features a wooden fire surround lugged with consoles, with niches continuing statues over dado panelling with fluted frieze. A hexagon-pattern frieze and cornice runs along the ceiling with a simple tripartite pattern enriched with scalloped and palmette roses.

The drawing room, designed in 1772, is more typically "Adam" in style and features a bowed end wall. An Ionic columned fireplace is decorated with a reclining woman cornucopia and pyramid motifs on a plaque. Grisaille medallions, swagged, appear on the walls with a modillion cornice and frieze bearing urns and gryphons. The ceiling features beamed compartments with scalloped ovals and circles enriched with anthemion and palmette ornament.

The library has a carved wooden fireplace with a gryphon centrepiece and fitted shelving with brass attachments (wyverns, urns and other Neo-classical enrichments) and an egg and tongue cornice. The ceiling is crowned by a single central palm rose.

A basement entrance hall below the drawing room opens to the garden, with dado rail, scroll cornice and stone beamed ceiling. Fine panelled doors with cornices and consoles appear throughout the house, including in the upper domestic rooms, which are further enhanced by good fireplaces.

This was Adam's first completely new design following his return from Rome, but it shows only modest advance on previous and subsequent Palladian-inspired designs—possibly reflecting the parsimony of Sir Wyndham and, after 1763, Sir Edward Knatchbull. Only the drawing room is truly recognisable in the Adam style.