Grantley Hall

Grantley Hall is a country house, now used as an Adult Education College, built in the early 18th century, with significant alterations made in the mid-to-late 18th century and the early 20th century for Thomas Norton. It is constructed of ashlar with stone slate roofs. The main east front, dating from the mid-to-late 18th century, has 17 bays and a plinth. It features fluted pilasters with friezes, rising to cornice height, at either end and flanking the central five gabled bays. A three-storey canted bay is centrally positioned, with bays 3 and 4 and 14 and 15 slightly advanced and pedimented. A central half-glazed door is set within a round-arched recess with radiating glazing bars, and is flanked by round-arched sash windows, also with glazing bars, set in round-arched recesses with raised impost bands. Seven sash windows with glazing bars, in moulded architraves with continuous sill bands, are located to either side of the pedimented bays, which have consoled cornices. Above, a first-floor band features 17 shallower sashes with glazing bars and a continuous sill band, with all but the central three sashes within moulded architraves. A moulded cornice and plain coped parapets cap the facade, with pediments displaying swags and roundels containing Sir Fletcher Norton’s coat of arms. The central three-bay canted section incorporates a third storey with oculus windows, coupled Doric pilasters to each corner, a moulded cornice, and plain parapets. The south front, dating from the early 18th century, is arranged in a U-shape with 11 bays and an additional three bays projecting on each side. The central panelled door is within a stone Doric doorcase, featuring half columns, a triglyphed frieze, cornice and pediment. Windows are sash windows with glazing bars in plain raised stone surrounds and continuous sill bands, with a symmetrical arrangement of windows on the ground and first floors. A plaque depicting an 18th-century household seeing its eldest son off to war is set in the ground floor of the right return wall, alongside an early 18th-century stone coat of arms. The north wing, of classical detail, is not considered of particular interest. Internally, the Morning Room on the left of the entrance hall has two carved door surrounds and a fireplace dating from 1750. The lecture room on the right of the main hall features neo-classical detailing in the style of Robert Adam. Building work undertaken in the 1760s has been attributed to John Carr, though this is unverified.