Stanwick Hall is a largely Georgian grade II* listed building located in the western end of the village of Stanwick, in the North Northamptonshire district, in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England. [1] [2]
Stanwick Hall is a largely Georgian grade II* listed building located in the western end of the village of Stanwick, in the North Northamptonshire district, in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England. [1] [2]
The house [3] was originally constructed in the C17, [4] possibly earlier. Evidence of this original building is scant but survives:
The Hall as it appears today was built in 1742-1743 for James Lambe (d.1761) [9] [10] by William Smith (1705-1747) at a cost of £750 (about £150,000 in modern terms. [11] )
William Smith was an acclaimed Architect and Builder and was the son of Francis Smith of Warwick. William Smith was involved as architect, builder or mason in many major projects, including the Radcliffe Camera, Catton Hall, Kirtlington Park, Thame Park and Stoneleigh Abbey, on which he worked with his father. Stoneleigh Abbey was immortalized by Jane Austen in her novel Mansfield Park, in which Stoneleigh Abbey becomes Sotherton Court.
After the death of James Lambe, Stanwick Hall was advertised as for sale on several occasions. The sale notice showed Stanwick Hall (a modern, stone-built capital mansion), a coach house, two dove houses, two barns, three 3-stall stables, two other stables with convenient outbuildings, a dog kennel and boiling house with constant running water. It included 30 acres of rich pasture in three closes (Nether Close, Dove House Close and Upper Close, called the Cherry Orchard). There were 15 acres at Stanwick Pastures, to the east of the village and a further 97 acres of arable, ley and pasture ground in the open fields around the village. [12]
At the time of its reconstruction, Stanwick Hall was immediately adjacent to what was then the main road into Stanwick from the west, running between the main house and outbuildings to the north. The tithe map of the 1840s [13] shows "New Road" (constructed in 1821 to link a new coal wharf on the river Nene to Stanwick) [14] forming the northern edge of Nether Close, which became the new route of the main road into village from the west.
In 1931, there was a major fire that started in one of the lower rooms. The owners escaped and no one was killed but the building was gutted. The building was placed on the English Heritage "At Risk" Register, [15] with fungus growing on damp walls, roof tiles broken and roof timbers in danger of collapsing at any moment.
The building was purchased in 2007. A major restoration project started by the new owners was the subject of a BBC Restoration Home programme in 2011. [16]
As the name suggests, Hall Farm has a long association with the adjoining Stanwick Hall.
History
Pre-Victorian farm
The current Victorian buildings replace a range of much earlier [37] buildings aligned north-south in plan, [38] and located closer to Ivy Cottage to the east. [39]
A 1780 Lambe-era newspaper advertisement to let [40] both the farm and Ivy Cottage gives a good description of the old farm: [41]
'A Capital FARM, To be LETT, AND Entered upon at Lady-Day next, (Old-Stile) at STANWICK, near Higham Ferrers, in the County of Northampton: "Confisting of...Out-Offices are comprifed of a Corn-Barn of five Bays, a Stable adjoining of two Bays, a Three-stall Stable, a Hog's-Court, Cow-House, Calves-Pens, (the Whole replete with all neceffary Conveniences) a large Cherry-Orchard, feveral Home-Closes, with 196 computed Acres of Arable and Ley Ground, 91 Acres of Pafture (inclofed) 21 Acres of Meadow, Commons for 196 Sheep and 21 Cows. Enquire of Alderman Drake, in Leicefter. N.B. There are feveral ufeful Hovels on the Premifes to accommodate a Tenant with.'
In 1863, following the death of the tenant, George Gascoyen the younger, further details of the old farm are revealed in an advertisement for the dispersal sale of the farm's dead and livestock [42]
'COMPRISING 250 sheep, 40 head of Cattle, 10 Horses, store Hogs, pure-bred Berkshire Sows, four Waggons, six Carts, excellent Water-cart, Suffolk Drill, manure Drill, iron and wood ploughs, ridge Ditto, several sets of iron Harrows, iron and wood Rolls, eight horse Cribs, 12 sheep ditto, two dozen sheep Troughs, chaff-cutting Machine, with horse power [ horse engine ]: winnowing Machine, and general Barn Tackle, sack weighing Machines, two oil cake Crushers, bean Mill, horse Hoes, ladders, Hurdles, Sacks, Ropes, Forks, Rakes, corn Drags, 10 sets of horse Harness, plough Chains, Gears, and general implements.'
The sales particulars give an insight into a relatively large, prosperous post Enclosure act farm just prior to the industrial revolution, that was in the process of radically transforming agriculture in the same way it would transport and manufacturing. Having employed a horse engine to power the winnower, chaff-cutter and other small machines, the farm would have been considered reasonably modern in the 1840s, towards the end of George's fathers tenure. However, by 1863 it was already obsolete, and would be swept away with the building of the replacement farm.
Victorian model farm
The current buildings are not shown on any detailed maps up to and including the Stanwick Inclosure map of 1838, and first appear on the OS map of 1880, shown as a E-shaped, double courtyard plan, typical of many model farms of the area at this time:
'[They] were recommended from the mid-18th century and many are documented from this period, though no surviving examples can be dated before the 1790s. The earlier examples are courtyard or U-plan with the barn forming the central block and shelter sheds, stables and enclosed cow houses the two side wings. The fourth side was no more than a wall with a gateway, or contained further sheds or smaller buildings such as pigsties, or was distinguished by a house (usually looking away from the yard). From the 1820s and 1830s, extra yards made E or even double-E plans.' 'The ultimate examples of courtyard farmsteads are the planned and model farms of the late 18th and 19th-century estates, the ideas for which were widely disseminated in textbooks and journals (Wade Martins 2002) they are generally associated with holdings over 150 acres, and are far less likely than the other plan types to be associated with other loose scatters of buildings' [43] [44]
The commonly held consensus in 20th century Stanwick was that Hall Farm was constructed as a model farm [45] by Lord Overstone, Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone in the 1860s. This has yet to be verified, as the earliest evidence found of his ownership of the farm and Hall is from 1887 [32] but he does appears to have links with the Manor of Stanwick as early as 1862. [46]
On his death in 1883 most of his vast estate including Hall farm, Stanwick Hall and Ivy Cottage passed to his daughter Lady Wantage, Harriet Loyd-Lindsay, Baroness Wantage whose estate included numerous farms throughout Northamptonshire.
In 1908, she still owns Hall farm, and as a "...token of their great esteem and regard" her Northamptonshire farm tenants arranged a presentation of photographs of themselves for her, taken at their respective farms, including the tenant of Hall farm at this time, Thomas Blackwell. [47]
Ivy Cottage is a largely C17 grade II listed building located towards the west end of the village of Stanwick, in the North Northamptonshire district. [48]
Alternative names
1853-1891 Stanwick Cottage, [49] [50] 1861-1953 Ivy Cottage, [51] [52] [53] Dovehouse Close, 1954-1999 [54] [55] [56] currently Dovecote House
History
As with Hall farm, Ivy Cottage shares much history with the Hall over several hundred years with for example, the extended farming families of both the Gascoynes and Blackwells occupying both houses simultaneously over many years. [57] However, whilst the Hall and estate were freehold, [58] Ivy Cottage and estate were a Copyhold property as late as 1891 [59] and as such, separately owned by the Lord of the Manor of Stanwick.
Occupants