Kilmeston Manor

Kilmeston Manor is a country house with a complex history, dating back to the 16th century and undergoing significant alterations through the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries. The original core is a timber-frame building comprising a hall and crosswing. In the 17th century, a service wing was added opposite the crosswing, later faced with brick and featuring a decorative brick gable. A projecting two-story porch was also added to the hall. This porch features pilasters extending into a gable with scroll and ball finials, a first-floor string course entablature with a vine frieze, and a modillioned moulded cornice from which a sash window projects. A smaller, similar entablature sits below a small 18th-century 16-pane sash window in the gable. Around 1720, the house was largely rebuilt by the Ridge family, who encased the crosswing in brick and rebuilt the hall. Further expansion occurred around 1780 when Sir Thomas Ridge, founder of the Hampshire Hunt, added a wing mirroring the existing crosswing to accommodate visits from George III and the Prince Regent, creating large reception rooms. Internal restoration took place in 1894, introducing a new dining hall and a covered entrance, which was replaced in 1906 by a bathroom wing and a Dutch gabled porch. The main 18th-century facade is characterized by a three-story central section of five bays, with a slightly projecting central bay, and a two-story, two-bay wing projecting forward. The central doorway has a six-panel double door within an architrave surround featuring Ionic pilasters, a frieze, a modillioned cornice, and a pediment. Flanking the door are 12-pane segmental-headed sash windows with rubbed brick arches. Above, five similar windows are arranged, with all except the central window having blank panels below. The second floor has five 6-pane sash windows, similarly detailed. The wings each feature four tall 18-pane segmental-headed sash windows, one of which serves as a doorway with a fanlight. Glazing bars are thick throughout, except in the right wing. Lead hopper heads and downpipes are present. The house is topped with a plain parapet and small stone coping. The roof is hipped, with stacks positioned on the right side of each wing, behind the ridge of the central roof at each end, and to the right of the centre. Interior features include early 18th-century panelling in the 17th-century porch wing, an 18th-century staircase, and late 18th-century panelling in the wing constructed for royal visitors.