Ayton Hall

A mansion, now a hotel, dating to around 1690, with alterations and extensions made over the centuries. The walls are rendered, with a stone plinth and alternating quoins. A brick and stone rear wing is present. The roofs are pantiled, with stone stacks and trim. The house is laid out in a U-plan facing south, and includes a central north wing. It is two storeys in height. The central section has four bays, and the wings have one bay, with two-bay blank inner returns. The main entrance is a central 19th-century eight-panel double door, set within an older radial fanlight. This sits beneath an archway with a console keystone and impost blocks on pilasters. Matching keystones are also above the restored sash windows, which have glazing bars and modern louvred shutters. A deep, replaced wood eaves cornice is evident, as are stone copings, kneelers and end stacks to the centre block. The wings are hipped and topped with ball finials. The right return features a large early 19th-century canted bay with glazing-bar sashes, and two further windows above a modern hooded doorway. The rear wing may represent the oldest part of the house, with two lower storeys and four wide bays. This section has a six-panel door set in a chamfered stone surround, and a flattened Tudor-arched north doorway. The windows here are similar to those on the front but with solid outside shutters. Inside, the drawing room has elaborate decoration including a deep, moulded and modillioned cornice, a chinoiserie dado rail, a carved fireplace, enriched doors (the door to the hall being within a pedimented entablature surround with Rococo carving). Several upstairs rooms contain panelling, although none are complete; one includes a panelled fireplace wall with cupboards, a deep modillion cornice, door and window architraves, and eight-panel doors – all of early 19th century style. There is other good-quality woodwork from the 18th and 19th centuries. A later 18th-century staircase has three turned balusters per tread, a ramped and wreathed handrail, and an outswept lower stair with a wide spiral curtail. It also features panelled, ramped dado with reeded pilasters. A stair window and hall arch are in the Doric Order. A small dining room has complete early 18th-century panelling and cornice, along with a late 18th-century carved chimney-piece.