Stonor House And Attached Walls And Buildings

Stonor House and Attached Walls and Buildings

A country house of exceptional historical and architectural significance, with origins in the 13th century and substantial additions and modifications spanning over 500 years.

The earliest phase, dating to the 13th century, consisted of a hall with a front solar and service block, together with a detached chapel. Around 1350, Sir John Stonor added a hall with flanking service and solar wings to the left, along with a right wing and chapel tower. By around 1530, Sir Walter Stonor commissioned the addition of a left wing and a timber-framed room to the kitchen. Between 1590 and 1600, the front was remodelled and refronted, a rear gallery was added, and the left half of the 13th-century hall was demolished to create a courtyard. Between 1750 and 1760, both front and rear elevations were remodelled, and the wings to the right and rear left were rebuilt. The chapel was subsequently redecorated between 1796 and 1800 by James Thorpe, and a Drawing Room was added around 1834 by George Masters.

The building materials reflect its long history. The west wing and front wall to the left of the mid-16th-century brick are of mid-16th-century brick; 18th-century brick appears to the right of the mid-16th-century brick porch and to the rear. The outer side walls are constructed of flint rubble with brick dressings and 15th-century brick to the right. The chapel is of flint rubble with limestone ashlar dressings, with the tower being of early 15th-century brick. The roofs include gabled old and 20th-century tile roofs, with hipped roofs to the front wings. There is a shortened 15th-century lateral stack to the right, and numerous 16th to 18th-century brick stacks throughout.

The plan is U-shaped with front projecting wings and the chapel with tower positioned to the right of the front. The central porch features mid-18th-century ogee-arches over tripartite sashes, and three mid-16th-century allegorical figures positioned over and flanking an early 16th-century segmental-arched doorway. The inner door is studded with a Gothick overlight. Gauged brick flat arches span mid and late 18th-century sashes, with a modillioned cornice and six pedimented roof dormers. The gable end of the left wing displays an early 19th-century oriel with sashes over a door, and a mid-18th-century polygonal turret with castellated parapet. The gable end of the right wing has a canted bay attached to the chapel, with lancets in the gable walls and a three-bay front wall. An 18th-century studded door is set in a pointed moulded left gable doorway. The 15th-century tower has one-light window and a moulded brick cornice to a hipped roof, topped with an 18th-century bell cupola and weathercock. The mid-18th-century rear wall features sashes and a pedimented doorcase.

Interior features include a four-bay arcade of a 13th-century aisled hall to the rear right. The mid-14th-century hall has a spere truss dividing the screens passage on the left and an arch-braced collar-truss with ogee-carved braces and butt purlins. The flanking wings retain original scissor-truss roofs. The hall was remodelled around 1750–1760 in Gothick style by John Aitkins, including ogee-arches in the screens and a bridge over the screens. A Gothick ironwork staircase by Gillow was added to the rear of the screens around 1790. Late 16th-century Flemish glass has been reset in the windows of the hall and drawing room to the right by Francis Edinton. The hall was divided laterally into two rooms around 1834 with a reset Gothick fireplace and 17th-century panelling to the rear, and a Drawing Room featuring a three-bay Ionic screen to the front by George Masters. A similar room with an Ionic screen to the right leads to an early 18th-century dog-leg staircase and the right wing, which contains a ground-floor room with mid-18th-century archaeological and pastoral scenes painted over doors. The first floor includes a late 16th-century barrel-vaulted room to the right of the hall, with wall-painting of perspective panels and early 18th-century round-arched and pedimented doorcases. The mid-16th-century left wing features quartered chamfered beams and an early 19th-century staircase to the rear of a trellis-work adjoining a timber-framed wall with moulded brick decorative panels.

The chapel was redecorated between 1796 and 1800 by James Thorpe with ogee hoods and finials over doorways and a plaster rib vault on angel corbels by Samuel Klerrod. Gothick iron altar rails and stained glass by Francis Edinton include an east window dated 1799 (since repaired) and three of an original four Fathers of the Church. The altar was created by Henry Blundell of Ince.

Subsidiary features include 18th-century walls to the rear and left constructed of flint with brick dressings, and brick with blue brick diaper patterns, together with a terrace and a late 18th-century brick Gothick-style stable attached to the left.

The Stonors remained staunchly Catholic throughout the Reformation. During the Jesuit Mission of 1580, Stonor House was visited by Father Edmund Campion, who printed his "Decem Rationes" here.