Wakefield Lodge

Wakefield Lodge is a hunting lodge and country house, built circa 1748-50 by William Kent for the 2nd Duke of Grafton. Later 18th and 19th century additions and alterations were made, and further changes occurred in 1946-48 by A.G.S. Butler for Mr. Norman See, including the demolition of some additions. The lodge is constructed of limestone ashlar with a slate roof and stone stacks. It is two storeys high with a basement and attic, and has a seven-window front. The design is based on an H-shaped plan.

The central entrance features a six-panel double-leaf door with an overlight, flanked by fifteen-pane sash windows with elliptical arched heads. A three-bay portico, approached by a curving double-arm balustraded staircase, is positioned centrally. The portico has Tuscan columns with a pronounced swelling (entasis), balustrades between the columns, and a plain entablature, from which the original balustraded parapet was removed in the 20th century. Venetian windows with elliptical heads, stone balustrades, and blank side panels are found on the ground floor, either side of the portico, and on the projecting wings. The first-floor central windows form a tripartite lunette-shaped composition with wide divisions, mirrored by lunettes in the wings with blank side panels. The attic storeys of the wings have open pediments and six-pane sashes with stone lintels. A five-bay attic section between the wings was added around 1840. Further external details include lunette windows in the basement, a plinth, sill bands, a giant dentilled cornice at first-floor level, and a band and moulded cornice at attic floor level. Originally, the side elevations were two bays wide and the wings have since been extended by one bay to the rear. A two-storey rendered brick addition is present on the rear of the main range. A mid-19th century columned porch of rendered brick is located to the left side, and a 20th-century kitchen extension is situated at the rear of the left wing.

The central three bays of the interior are designed in the style of Inigo Jones’ Queen’s House, featuring a balustraded gallery on console brackets at first-floor level on all four sides. The ground floor is stone-paved, with a large stone chimney piece incorporating spears, intertwined bows, a bear’s head, and a badger’s head. The ceiling is compartmented with a Garter stair leading to a central circular panel, and has deep divisions with guilloche patterns. A circular stone cantilever staircase, also in the style of the Queen's House, has a wrought-iron balustrade with S-curves and a mahogany handrail. Original plasterwork ceilings remain in the study and the present billiard room, likely dating to the original construction, and in what was probably the original dining room. The drawing room and staircase on the opposite side of the hall were remodelled by A.G.S. Butler. The present dining room is believed to have previously been a library, with late 18th-century decoration, including a curved end with a round-arched door flanked by round-arched recesses, and a coved ceiling with simple plasterwork. Original stone chimney pieces are present in the study, billiard room, and bedrooms. A stone-vaulted basement is located beneath the hall, with basement rooms at either end. Wakefield Lodge served as the Northamptonshire seat of the Dukes of Grafton until 1936.