Constable Burton Hall

Constable Burton Hall is a country house built between 1762 and 1767 by the architect John Carr of York for Sir Marmaduke Wyvill. It is constructed in ashlar sandstone with a Westmorland slate roof and represents a fine example of Palladian style architecture.

The house comprises two storeys over a basement with a symmetrical plan of 1:3:1 bays on the principal front. The central three bays are set back behind a slightly projecting portico of four giant Ionic unfluted columns, approached by an imperial staircase with two lower flights and one upper flight. The staircase is carried on a quarter arch with a Gibbs surround and features turned balusters.

On the basement level, there are 6-pane sash windows in Gibbs surrounds at the first, second, fourth and fifth bays. The ground floor contains a ground-floor string and sill band with balustraded aprons to sash windows. These windows have glazing bars set in architraves with pulvinated friezes and pediments carried on consoles in the first and fifth bays. The central entrance has a part-glazed leaved door set in an architrave with pulvinated frieze and pediment on consoles. Further sash windows with glazing bars in architraves with pulvinated friezes and segmental pediments occupy the second and fourth bays. The first floor features 9-pane unequally-hung sash windows in architraves. A modillion cornice runs across the front, with hipped roofs on all four sides of the building surrounding the stairwell and stacks positioned on the inner edges.

The rear elevation displays a 2:3:2 bay arrangement. The central section is slightly proud with a central canted bay. Basement windows are 6-pane sashes, while the ground floor contains sash windows with glazing bars that are round-arched with radial glazing bars in the central three bays. The first floor has 9-pane unequally-hung sash windows, and a modillion cornice is present.

The right return also follows a 2:3:2 bay pattern, with 6-pane sash windows in Gibbs surrounds in the basement. The ground floor has sash windows with glazing bars in architraves with pulvinated friezes and cornices, while the first floor features 9-pane unequally-hung sash windows in architraves and a modillion cornice. The left return similarly displays 2:3:2 bays with the central three slightly proud. Windows have keyed lintels; the basement contains 6-pane sashes, the ground floor has sashes with glazing bars, and the first floor features 9-pane unequally-hung sashes. A door of eight fielded panels set in an architrave with plain frieze and cornice is positioned in the centre of the ground floor. A moulded cornice and chimney stacks between the second and third and between the fifth and sixth bays complete the side elevation.

The interior is exceptionally well preserved with complete John Carr details throughout. The entrance hall contains doors of six fielded panels with pulvinated friezes above the doorcases and a fireplace with console pilasters and dentil ceiling cornice. The central stair hall features cantilevered ashlar treads and a wrought-iron balustrade surrounding an open well staircase. This staircase is top-lit by lunette windows set in groin-vaulted openings, with a modillion cornice underneath the landings. To the right of the entrance hall is the library, featuring a fireplace with fluted pilasters and a Greek key motif on the frieze, topped with an acanthus ceiling cornice. Behind this is the morning room, decorated with Greek key motifs on the friezes above doors and a dentil ceiling cornice. The large drawing room follows, with a fireplace featuring console pilasters and a frieze with drapes, plus anthemion on the friezes above doors and on the ceiling cornice. The dining room occupies the centre of the rear with a bay window, plastered wall panels, crossed fronds on the friezes above doors, and an acanthus ceiling cornice. To the rear left is the oak room, containing panelling reportedly from an older house that previously occupied the site, including some pieces of Jacobean type and some with large fielded panels. On the first floor, the main bedroom over the dining room features Ionic columns framing a bed recess and a dentil cornice.

The house replaced an early seventeenth-century house designed by Inigo Jones and stands as a delightful Palladian villa of exceptional architectural quality.