Boughton Hall

Boughton Hall is a country house built in 1844 by the architect William Burn for the Howard-Vyse family, designed in the Tudor-Gothic style. The building stands to the east of the former medieval and later Boughton Hall.

The house is constructed of randomly coursed local stone with slate-covered gable roofs. The ridge and end stacks have been rebuilt in gault brick. The plan is approximately L-shaped, with the main residential range comprising two storeys and an attic, and a service wing arranged in two gables of two storeys with a cellar below.

Windows throughout are deeply recessed in the Elizabethan style, featuring mullion and transom designs of mostly two or three lights with stone surrounds, some with drip-mouldings above. The fenestration varies between single lights and two-pane sash windows in the main range, while the service wing and attic contain sashes with 4-over-4 lights with glazing bars.

The principal elevation faces south-west and is dominated by two full-height projecting bays, one with a ground-floor bay window. Each bay is topped with a coped pediment adorned with finials. Two similar central dormers with gablets further articulate this elevation. The north-west elevation contains the entrance, positioned in the angle between the front range and stair tower. A small porch beneath a gablet projects from the entrance lobby, approached by stone steps with framing low walls. The four-centred arched entrance has decorated spandrels and drip moulding, with an eroded Coat of Arms visible beneath the coped gablet. The stair tower features a tall rectangular window divided equally by three mullions and transoms. The service wing projects north-east in two gables, the westernmost being one bay longer. A 20th-century porch now forms the entrance to Pegasus House in the angle between the two gables. A 20th-century single-storey addition projects to the south-east. The north-west and south-east elevations each have three dormers beneath gablets. The south-east elevation of the main range features stone-walled steps leading to a door with stone surround, with windows above and to the left. The rear elevation of the main range is largely obscured by the service wing, though evidence suggests rebuilding has occurred at the position of the back stairs, possibly resulting from a fire in the 1920s.

The interior preserves Burn's original plan largely intact. The polite range contains an axial corridor with flagstone covering to the rear, leading to a range of polite rooms on both ground and first floors. The main entrance is at the west end of the corridor, with a secondary entrance to the pleasure gardens at the east. A restored 16th-century Coat of Arms of Elizabeth I is wall-mounted in the entrance.

Beyond the entrance lobby, accessed through a four-centred arched doorway framed by projecting ribs resting on corbels carved with medieval faces, lies the main staircase. This features a carved timber handrail and newell posts with decorative cast iron balusters. The ceiling above contains a central rose with radiating ribs leading to a frieze embossed with foliate, geometric, fleur-de-lys and Tudor rose motifs.

Four panelled doors open into the polite rooms on both floors, which have a south-west aspect. Although no contemporary fireplaces remain, all ground-floor rooms retain shutter boxes to the windows and feature good quality decorative plasterwork. The central room, probably the library, has a particularly ornate cornice of acanthus leaves. The corridor wall at the east end has been removed to open out the most easterly room, which may have been the dining room.

On the first floor, deep plaster cornices remain in each room though less ornately detailed than below. Some remodelling has occurred, but the relationship between the main bedrooms and ensuite bathrooms has been maintained. At the east end, remnants of the back stairs remain between the first floor and attic, though the staircase itself contains 20th-century elements. The mullion and transom stair window is of particular interest, with armorial stained glass in the central panels depicting the Mackaness, Earls of Stafford and Howard-Vyse coats of arms. The attic spaces have undergone some reworking, but two rooms contain late 19th-century fireplaces.

The service wing contains rooms on either side of a central corridor. Although the plan-form is largely intact, there are no historic fixtures and fittings of interest. Some elements from the remodelled back stairs are found at the south end, though they do not appear to be in their original position.

The hall was designed for the Reverend Granville Howard-Vyse, who became rector of Boughton. He lived at the hall until his death in 1896. The property was subsequently leased until 1927, when it was sold to F W Panther, Esq., who reformed the lake in the grounds and restored the Elizabeth I coat of arms, which had been discovered in the kitchen garden in the mid-19th century by Reverend Howard-Vyse. The estate was sold to Mr J Mackaness in 1964, who undertook restoration prior to occupying the hall in 1966. Within the last fifteen years or so, the hall has been sold and subdivided into two units. The stables and coach-houses to the north have also been subdivided into multiple residencies.