Rushden Hall

Rushden Hall is a country house now used as public halls and offices, located on the west side of High Street South in Rushden. It has medieval origins dating to the 14th and 15th centuries, but was substantially rebuilt in the early to late 17th century for the Pemberton family, with significant alterations and extensions added in the mid-19th century.

The building is constructed of squared coursed limestone and limestone ashlar, with a 20th-century plain tile roof. It is arranged over 3 storeys with an attic storey. The original plan was probably H-shaped, later converted to a courtyard arrangement.

The principal front faces High Street and dates from the early 17th century, comprising a 3-window central range with flanking gabled wings that break forward. Each gable end features a 2-storey semi-circular bay window of 8 lights with stone mullions. These bays are topped with castellated parapets adorned with ball finials. The central bay window is a mid-19th-century facsimile. A 17th-century studded plank door sits to the right of centre, framed by a moulded stone surround with a 4-centred arch head. The gables display Dutch-style shaped forms with openwork semi-circles at the apex and 2-light attic windows. Moulded string courses run between floors, and ashlar stacks rise at the ridge and gable ends.

The entrance front, positioned to the left of the main front, is a 6-window range with a central 2-storey porch topped by a castellated parapet. The porch contains a 19th-century moulded stone doorway with a 4-centred arch head and ribbed door. The windows here are mostly 19th-century 3-light stone mullioned designs, some with transoms. Canted stone bay windows occupy the far left and right, together with gables bearing ashlar parapets; the right gable breaks forward slightly. A small blank gable to the left of centre likely dates from mid-19th-century remodelling of this elevation.

The elevation to the right of the main front is constructed of squared coursed limestone and probably incorporates part of the cross wing of the medieval house. It features mainly 20th-century fenestration, though a fragment of string course remains. A range of 19th-century domestic offices is attached at right angles to the rear. The rear elevation contains two 17th-century 4-light stone mullion windows with transoms, while the courtyard elevation has one 19th-century 3-light stone mullion window with transom.

Interior features include an original entrance hall positioned to the right of the main front, which follows the line of the original screens passage. The wall to the right contains 3 doorways with moulded stone surrounds featuring 4-centred arch heads and sunk spandrels, originally providing access to the service wing of the medieval house. A 17th-century staircase, remodelled in the 19th century, retains some 17th-century pierced splat balusters.

The room to the right of the entrance hall, formerly the smoking room, contains a fireplace with a 4-centred arch head. The room to the left, which occupies the position of the medieval hall and was formerly the dining room, features a fireplace with a 4-centred arch head, flanking moulded wood caryatids, and a panelled overmantel with arcading. The fire back is dated 1614 and has been reset.

The central hall of the 19th-century entrance front contains reset linenfold panelling and a carved overmantel depicting the story of St Ann and Joachim. A fire back bearing Tudor arms and the initials E.R. was probably reset from Higham Ferrers Castle. A 19th-century staircase sits to the right of this hall. The former morning room to the left and drawing room to the right contain mid-19th-century fireplaces and moulded plaster cornices.

A room to the rear of the courtyard contains a large chamfered spine beam. A first-floor room in the north range has a medieval fireplace with a segmental arch head. The first-floor room at the centre of the main front has a plain barrel vault ceiling and reset 17th-century panelling surrounding a bolection-moulded fireplace. Some original roof structure may survive above this room.

The hall originally formed part of the Manor of the Peverel family. It was owned by the Pemberton family during the 16th and 17th centuries. Robert Pemberton, a gentleman usher to Elizabeth I, was responsible for some of the building works. The Ekins family owned the hall from the mid-16th century. It passed to Jeremy Sanbrooke in 1735 and his heirs leased it to Thomas Fletcher in 1756, who purchased the property in 1812. Thomas Williams bought the hall in 1823 and subdivided the house, added the centre bay window, and partially remodelled the south elevation. In 1836 it passed to John Barrington Browne, who sold it to the Satoris family in the mid-19th century. The Satoris family were responsible for various late 19th-century alterations to the south front and a new kitchen wing. The Urban District Council purchased the hall in 1930.