Description

SE50NW BRODSWORTH BRODSWORTH HALL

5/31 Brodsworth Hall
5.6.68

GV I

Country house. 1861-63. By Chevalier Casentini of Lucca, Italy for Charles
Thellusson. Executive architect: Philip Wilkinson of London. Ashlar limestone,
lead and slate roofs. 2-storey rectangular range having 9-bay entrance front
and 13-bay garden front on left return; lower, double service wing set back on
right return. Italianate style. Entrance front: rusticated ground floor,
projecting quoins above. Transomed casements with roller shutters to ground floor;
deep lst-floor band with 2-pane sashes above. Central 3 bays break forward and
have tetrastyle porte-cochere with its columns now partly encased in concrete.
Double door within has fanlight; side niches with lamp brackets have flanking
pilasters. Balustrade with finialled urns. Central, lst-floor opening has
architrave and pediment. Bays 2 and 7 have aprons, architraves and segmental
pediments, plain reveals to other bays. Modillioned eaves cornice with balustrade
having terracotta balusters and urns. solid parapet above central bays steps up
and has sunken panel and cornice. Service wing set back to right has sashes with
glazing bars and lst-floor band; cornice with blocking course; hipped roof with
corniced, ashlar ridge stacks. Rear: 7 unarticulated bays. As front with flat-
arched openings to ground floor, architraves and cornices to lst-floor openings,
the central lst-floor window with pediment. Garden front on left return: 1:4:3:4:1
bays. As front, having central entrance feature with heavy architrave and cornice
breaking forward over consoles; corniced panel above with urns. 4-bay sections
break forward and have plain-ashlar walling with Gibbs surrounds, moulded string
courses and cornices. 1st floor: architraved surrounds to all bays,
central bays with pediments, end bays with segmental pediments, otherwise cornices.
Balustrade with panelled parapets over 4-bay projections.

Interior: remarkable original scheme of decoration and furnishing survives intact.
Scagliola columns to south hall and to screen of entrance hall. Original wallpapers
and damask coverings remain. Principal corridor ends in a mirrored arcade with -
bas-relief panels and is truncated by a painted-glass panel inserted by Philip
Wilkinson. C18 work surviving from the old Brodsworth Hall includes-some panelled
doors and fireplaces in the south hall and adjacent dining room.

Built from the proceeds of the controversial will of Peter Thellusson who died in
1797 but aimed to control his estate beyond the grave by leaving £700,000 with its
accumulated interest to be inherited by the eldest great grandson following the
deaths of all intermediate lineal male descendants. The history and interior of the
house are described and illustrated at length elsewhere (Girouard, 1963 and 1971).

Mark Girouard, 'Brodsworth Hall': Yorkshire', Country Life, Oct 3, 1963, pp803-807
and Oct 10, 1963, pp876-879.

Mark Girouard, The Victorian Country House, 1979, pp236-242 .

Listing NGR: SE5059507044

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Brodsworth Hall at Wikipedia
• Brodsworth Hall official website
• Wikidata Q4973157

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

• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)