Wykeham Abbey

Wykeham Abbey is a country house, largely dating from the mid-18th century, with substantial extensions and alterations made in 1835, 1839, and 1904. It was originally built for the Langley family. The house is constructed of dressed sandstone, with reused tooled medieval sandstone, ashlar quoins and dressings, a timber eaves band, and a Westmorland slate roof.

The main entrance front is of three storeys and six bays. The central four bays project forward, topped with a pediment and quoins. It is flanked by two-storey, two-bay 19th-century extension wings, and further two-storey, three-bay ranges. Single-storey service wings project to the left and right, connected to the main front and ranges by two-storey link bays. The extension wings feature rusticated pilasters. A single-storey, canted porch, added to the centre of the 18th-century front, contains half-glazed double doors beneath a patterned fanlight, all set within a pedimented and rusticated Doric door-case. The ground-floor end bays of the 18th-century front are designed as aedicules. Windows are mostly 12-pane sashes, with unequal 9-pane sashes on the second floor, all within raised, keyed surrounds. A keyed oeil-de-boeuf (circular window) is located in the main pediment. A modillion cornice runs along the top. An attached Doric colonnade runs along the ground floor of the two-storey ranges, with a projecting eaves cornice and plain parapet above. One service wing has a six-panel door with a Gibbs surround, while both wings feature a triple-keyed window surround and domed cupolas with wrought-iron weather-vanes. The main roof has coped gables with end and central left and right stacks. The wings have half-hipped roofs, each roofed separately.

The garden front is three storeys and nine bays, arranged in a 2:1:3:1:2 pattern, with a central five-bay breakforward incorporating a three-window, full-height bow. Single-storey, four-bay wings have been added to the left and right. Glazed doors are set in recessed bays, and the windows are a mix of 12-pane sashes on the ground and first floors, and unequal 9-pane sashes on the second floor, all with plain keyed surrounds. A Doric loggia, dated 1839, runs along the ground floor, supporting a first-floor balcony with balustrade and urns. A modillion cornice is topped with a plain parapet. The extension wings feature canted bays with radial-glazed sashes in raised, round-arched surrounds, and a plain parapet with urns above. The roof is half-hexagonal. The left and right return fronts feature Venetian windows on the first and second floors, with an oculus in each gable end.

Inside, the ground-floor centre room on the garden side has an Ionic fireplace with fluted column jambs and a moulded frieze, along with a panelled ceiling of moulded plaster. A room to the left features a screen of fluted Corinthian columns and a dentil cornice extending around the room.