Wroxton College And Attached Walls And Steps

Wroxton College and Attached Walls and Steps

A country house now serving as a college for students of Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, USA. The present building dates from circa 1618 and was constructed on the site of an Augustinian Priory founded in 1217 by Michael Belet in honour of St. Mary. The north wing of the early 17th-century house incorporates monastic remains, including a 13th-century blocked arch and a 14th-century moulded doorway visible in the boilerhouse.

The early 17th-century house was begun by Sir William Pope but left incomplete at his death in 1631. It originally comprised the Great Hall, Parlour, Porch and Pantry. Significant additions were made by Roger North around 1672, including the north wing with a Great Parlour, Garden Parlour, and Chapel. The Chapel was remodelled in Gothic style by Sanderson Miller in 1747 for Francis, later Earl of Guilford. A Library was added by Sydney Smirke around 1830, and the south wing was added in 1858–9 by Baroness Susan North. Comprehensive restorations were carried out by Fairleigh Dickinson University from 1960 through the 1980s.

The building is constructed of ironstone ashlar with a steeply pitched stone slate roof laid to diminishing courses. Stone ridges, end stacks and internal stacks are present. Stone coped gables feature moulded kneelers and finials. The plan is H-shaped, with two storeys plus attics and cellars. The west front presents a 9-window range with seven gables and a central 4-storey porch with shaped gables and finials. The doorway has an elaborate surround in the form of a triumphal arch with shell niches flanking the entrance and an entablature with strapwork and finials. Above the third floor is a heraldic shield. The entrance is reached by a flight of stone steps with side walls dating to the 17th century. Two further sets of steps and walls are present on the north and south. The north wing has a 2-storey 19th-century bay window with tall mullioned and transomed windows. The 1859 south wing has a similar window. Elsewhere, stone mullioned windows and mullioned and transomed windows are present, some replacing earlier 18th-century sash windows. Hood moulds and label stops, some continuous, are throughout. The rear is irregular, with bay windows to the north and south wings and stone mullioned windows, some original. A single-storey 19th-century library on the right has mullioned and transomed windows with arched lights and a pierced parapet. The Chapel, approximately central, has a 4-light intersecting window with an ogee-headed dripmould.

The interior contains a hall with a screens passage to service rooms on the right. A Jacobean carved arcaded gallery features four pairs of arches divided by caryatids, with strapwork cartouches along the dado. A 19th-century carved frieze of small figures and caryatids in papier-mâché is present. Heraldic stained glass of the 1850s in the bay window at the dais end of the hall was probably by Willement.

The Chapel retains a 17th-century carved oak gallery on three sides, with two doors dated 1618 and an altar. An early 18th-century Flemish altar rail is present. Alterations by Sanderson Miller around 1747 include the east window designed as a setting for painted glass of 1623 by A. Van Linge, and possibly the Gothic frieze and the star enclosing the Agnus Dei on the ceiling over the altar. Elaborate woodwork from the 16th and 17th centuries was introduced in the 19th century. The font is a rectangular bowl carved with swags of flowers.

The Great Parlour, now the Reading Room, has a plaster ceiling possibly of Jacobean Revival style from the 1740s. An 18th-century fireplace to the design of Batty Langley is present. The Garden Parlour Room, now the North Library, has a fireplace dated 1698 with carving below windows in the style of Grinling Gibbons. The Red Drawing Room, now the Small Library, contains fine carved wall panels. The Library has a fireplace dated 1859, a jib door with dummy books and linenfold panelling. An openwell staircase, probably 17th-century, is present. The Gold Room on the first floor is 18th-century; its ceiling was redecorated in the 19th century and restored in 1964. It contains a Georgian stone chimney piece in Caen stone and probably 19th-century woodwork.

The property has considerable historical significance. Royal visitors to Wroxton Abbey included James I, Charles I on 13 July 1643, and George IV when Prince of Wales in 1805, 1806 and 1808. Other notable visitors included Horace Walpole and Celia Fiennes. Frederick, 2nd Earl of Guilford, Prime Minister to George II, lived here. Early 18th-century formal gardens were laid out by Tilleman Bobart, and mid-18th-century landscaped gardens by Sanderson Miller. The gardens are included in the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission Gardens Register.