Description

BENEFIELD
TL08NW
4/1 Biggin Hall
23/05/67
GV II*

Country house. Medieval origins, centre range c.1700, entrance front and
pavilions mid C18, flanking wings to garden front and domestic offices mid C19.
Remodelling and extension to garden front and first floor ranges between
pavilions c.191l by H. Biddulph Pinchard and interior remodelling c.1938 by Hon.
Claude Yorke for Watts-Russell family. Limestone and lias ashlar with stone
slate and lead roofs. Double-pile 2 storeys with attic and basement. Entrance
front of 13 bays. Centre 5 bays have portico with pediment supported on 4 giant
Ionic columns. fluter columns have a second column behind and a corresponding
pilaster, to each end of centre range, supporting a continuation of the
entablature. Rear wall of portico has sash windows with plain surrounds. Central
6-panelled door with arch-head fanlight, moulded stone surround and keyblock.
Return walls of portico have arch-head niches. Mansard roof behind parapet has 2
dormers with pediments. 4, central, ashlar stacks. Flanking 3 bays, originally
of single storey with basement, have sash windows with moulded stone surrounds
and cornices. Squared sash windows to basement have plain surrounds. Flat roof
to ground floor has first floor range of c.1911 set back, all in similar style.
Flanking pavilions have Venetian windows at ground floor and similar tripartite
window, with centre pediment, at first floor. Tripartite basement windows.
Pediments over each pavilion have dentilled cornices similar to central portico.
Recessed band below all ground floor windows. Ashlar stacks at ridge. Side
elevations of partitions of 3-window range of sash windows with plain surrounds,
some are now blind. Garden front to rear of entrance front of 15 bays. Centre 5
bays of original house have central part-glazed door with c.1911 shell hood.
Sash windows with glazing bars have plain ashlar surrounds with keyblocks. Small
2-stage buttresses to left and right. Rusticated quoins and dentilled cornice.
C19 mansard roof with central pediment of c.1911 and flanking dormers with
pediments. Return walls of centre range have 2-window ranges of sash windows,
some are blind and some retain early C18 glazing bars. Flanking 3 bays
remodelled 1911 have similar sash windows with limestone ashlar dressings and
keyblocks. Mid C19 flanking 2 bays, remodelled 1911 in similar style, break
forward as wings with pediments over. Raised bands between floors and limestone
ashlar dressings at corners. Central and flanking pediments have plasterwork
decoration. Mid C19, 2-storey, domestic office range is attached to far left.
Interior: entrance hall, to centre of entrance front, remodelled 1911 when
staircase was removed. Front door and corresponding arch-head doorway opposite
are flanked by detached columns and pilasters. Drawing room to left of entrance
has C18 six-panel doors. Doorcases and cornice with.oakleaves are probably
c.1938. C18 style fireplace. Sitting room in pavilion to far left has late
C18/early C19 marble fireplace with frieze depicting pastoral scene. Late C18
cornice and Rococo style ceiling. To the rear of this room is a C18 staircase
with 3 thin turned balusters per tread. The library to the right of the
entrance, originally the dining room, was remodelled 1911. Staircase to right of
the library is also c.191l. The dining room in pavilion to far right, originally
the kitchen, was remodelled in 1938. The morning room and the study occupy the
centre range of the garden front, both probably remodelled c.1911: the morning
room has a bolection moulded fire surround and the study has an arch-head niche.
Due to the internal alterations of 1911 some first floors do not correspond with
window openings. The Manor of Biggin was originally held by the Abbots of
Peterborough, at the Dissolution it passed to Katherine Parr, then to the
Russell family, and by 1688 to the Marquess of Powis who sold to James Joye in
1724. The Joye family were probably responsible for the entrance front. Jesse
Watts-Russell, in whose family the house still remains, bought the estate in
1822.
(Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.105; Gotch, J.A., Squires Homes and
Other Old Buildings of Northamptonshire, p.9; Nares, G., Country Life, November
18th 1954, p.1758-1761 and November 25th 1954, p.1852-1855).

Listing NGR: TL0108889137

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17557741

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)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)