Laxton Hall And Attached Steps And Balustrade

Laxton Hall and Attached Steps and Balustrade

A country house, now a residential home, situated at Laxton Park. The main building probably dates from the late 18th century, possibly designed by W.D. Legg of Stamford for George, third Baron Carbery. The house was substantially enlarged and remodelled between 1806 and 1809 by the renowned landscape architect Humphry Repton and surveyor William Carter, with internal works carried out by George Dance the younger, Francis Bernasconi, and Westmacott. Further modifications were made in the mid-19th century for George, seventh Baron Carbery.

The house is constructed of squared coursed limestone with ashlar facades and a Welsh slate roof. It is arranged on a double-pile plan, rising to 2 and 3 storeys with a basement level. The entrance front comprises a 9-window range with 3 central bays that break forward beneath a pediment. The centrepiece originally featured an open porte cochere, which was enclosed during the mid-19th century. A central panelled door with a bracketed pediment surmounts the entrance. The fenestration consists of early-19th-century sash windows with moulded stone architraves. Plain pilasters between bays project proud of the cornice line. The basement plinth is of squared coursed limestone with inverted relieving arches beneath each window. A moulded cornice and hipped roof sit behind a plain parapet. Ashlar chimney stacks rise at the ridge and at the gable ends. A rainwater head bears the date 1811. Basement walls to the left and right of centre feature retaining walls with balustrades, attached to the main house around 1850.

The elevation to the right of the entrance comprises a 6-window range similar to the flanking bays of the entrance front. A French window to the left of centre has similar moulded stone architraves. The elevation to the left of the entrance has a one-bay ashlar return with a large blank recessed panel at ground and first floor levels. A 4-window range to the centre and left is of squared coursed limestone with sash windows beneath gauged stone heads.

The garden front to the rear presents a 3-storey, 11-window range. Three central bays break forward as a semi-circular bay, with flanking bays at far left and right also projecting. Tall French doors occupy the ground floor, with sash windows featuring glazing bars to the first and second floors, reducing in height at the second floor. All windows have plain ashlar surrounds. The plinth is chamfered with basement casement windows. A moulded cornice sits above a plain parapet. A central flight of steps with ashlar parapet walls provides access to the garden.

The interior contains significant early-19th-century work. The Entrance Hall, dating to circa 1811 and designed by George Dance the younger, rises through 2 storeys. The lower walls feature horizontally-channelled ashlar, whilst the upper walls are plastered. Opposite the entrance stands a wide semi-circular arch with an open colonnade of 4 Ionic columns above. An ironwork balustrade between the columns was designed by William Carter and made by the metalworker John Baker. The centre of the hall is defined by a broad segmental arch adjacent to the entrance wall, above which rises a circular lantern with pendentives decorated with wreaths and a central drum formed of tall windows.

The central passage to the rear of the Entrance Hall has a segmental ceiling with lozenge panels. The principal staircase, positioned to the left of the central passage, features cantilevered stone treads rising around a rectangular open well. Its iron balustrade, designed by Carter and made by Baker, is accompanied by a plaster cornice, coffered ceiling, and rectangular lantern above. A secondary stair to the left of the stair hall has stone treads, a plain iron balustrade by Baker, and rises around a narrow rectangular well.

A semi-circular lobby to the right of the central passage is separated from it by 2 unfluted Doric columns. The lobby receives light from an iron fanlight above, with a semi-circular stairwell rising from first to second floor and a handrail similar to the main stair.

The Dining Room, to the left of the Entrance Hall, contains a mid- to late-19th-century black marble fireplace, six-panel reeded oak doors, and a plaster cornice by Francis Bernasconi. Large piers occupy the corners adjacent to the Entrance Hall. The Music Room, now serving as a Sitting Room, to the right of the Entrance Hall, is similar in character but features a white marble fireplace by Westmacott decorated with 2 female musicians in Grecian dress.

The South Drawing Room, now used as a dining room and positioned to the left of the stair hall, contains a white marble fireplace with detached columns and ceiling decoration by Bernasconi. The Drawing Room, now a chapel, to the right of the central passage, is similar to the Music Room but features a white marble fireplace carved with a Bacchic thyrsus, lizard, and butterfly motifs.

An octagonal lobby between the Drawing Room and the Music Room has a domed ceiling. The Library, occupying the centre of the garden front, was created from existing rooms around 1810 by Carter. The central room incorporates a semi-circular bow, with the reveals to openings between flanking rooms being ashlar-faced. Two identical fireplaces by Westmacott feature rams head decoration, and ceiling work by Bernasconi. First-floor rooms display plain classical and Grecian cornices with plain 19th-century fireplaces; some have been subdivided. The basement rooms have barrel-vaulted and groined ceilings, with the central room beneath the Library featuring a central column.

Historically, Laxton Hall passed from the Staffords of Blatherwyke to the Evans family in 1720 and was subsequently occupied by the Barons Carbery of the same family. Susan Lady Carbery married George Freke Evans in 1806, her first husband's cousin. Evans engaged Humphry Repton to extend and remodel the house. Repton was dismissed in 1808 following a dispute, and the works were completed by William Carter the surveyor. The works to the main house during this period included the construction of the entrance front and the remodelling and refacing of the garden front. Lord Carbery sold the house around 1895. In 1924 it became Blackfriars School and in 1968 was converted to a residential home.