Description

HONINGTON
SP2642
10/122
Honington Hall and attached
02/09/52 gateways, walls and temple
(Formerly listed as Honnington
Hall with stables, pigeoncote
and other ancillary buildings
and gates on Village Green)

GV I

Country house. Built for Sir Henry Parker c.1685. Later alterations and
additions for Joseph Townsend c.1730-40. East front; red brick with rusticated
limestone quoins. Hipped slate roof with ball finials. Brick ridge, end and
lateral stacks with moulded stone tops. 2 storeys plus attics; 7-window range.
2:3:2 bays. Double-pile plan. Central entrance block with slightly advanced side
wings. Entrance has a moulded wood doorcase with Corinthian columns, broken
segmental pediment with swags, cartouche with the arms of the Townsend family
and glazed door. 6 sashes to ground floor have glazing bars, stone cased
surrounds, keystoned heads and cornices. Above the ground floor windows are
round headed niches containing busts of Roman emperors. 7 sashes to first floor
have stone cased surrounds, glazing bars and limestone heads. 4 roof dormers.
Bracketed wooden eaves cornice. Attached to left and right are rusticated and
pedimented limestone gateways of 1744 with wrought-iron overthrows and gates.
Attached to the right gateway is a brick quadrant wall with pilasters, blank
niches and triglyph frieze. North front: 6-window range. Entrance to left has
moulded wood surround and apsed hood, carved with cherubs head, flowers and
leaves. South front: loggia and sreps added c.1744 for Joseph Townsend. West
front: wide canted bay to the octagonal saloon added c.1745. Temple. Limestone.
Portico with 6 Tuscan columns and triglyph frieze with ram's heads. Interior:
central entrance hall. Side wings: to north containing the Dining Room and the
Magistrate's Room now kitchens, to south containing the Oak Room or Drawing Room
with a Boudoir behind it. Domed octagonal Saloon of c.1745 built projecting from
main west front. Space between Saloon and Hall made into a lobby with north and
south 2-bay colonnades dividing it from the side chambers. The south side
chamber contains an open well staircase of c.1745 with open iron-work
balustrades. C17 dog-leg staircase with turned balusters in north side chamber.
Interior decoration mostly dates from c.1740's, including ornamental plasterwork
attributed to Charles Stanley. Hall has a stone and marble fireplace and
overmantle with plaster relief, Venus appearing to Aeneus. Relief on south wall,
Hector saying Farewell to Andromache. Doors have entablatures with armorini.
Ornate plaster ceiling. The Oak Room is lined with bolection-moulded panelling
and has a pedimented doorcase with amorini possibly of 1750's, Fireplace of
c.1745. Boudoir has fine plaster ceiling relief of Flora. Saloon, lavishly
treated, has coffered dome with painting attributed to Ballucci. Rococco
garlands down angles of the wall. Classical style fireplaces and doorcases in
Kentian manner. Lobby to rear of Hall is sumptuously decorated with Rococco
ceiling motifs and thick garlands in spandrels. Chinese closet on first floor
has rare painted leather wall panels, small late C17 corner fireplace and
plaster ceiling cornice. Noted as a gem of late C17 house (Pevsner).
'V.C.H.: Warwickshire, 1949, Vol.V, p.93; Buildings of England: Warwickshire,
1981, pp.313-4; English Homes, Period V, Vol.I, pp.201-280; Country Life:
Honington Hall by John Cornforth, September 21st 1978, September 28th 1978 and
October 12th 1978).

Listing NGR: SP2608442687

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Honington Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q15224938

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House