Monument Type(s):

• COUNTRY HOUSE (1803, Early 19th century - 1800 AD to 1837 AD)
• SERVICE WING (1803, Early 19th century - 1800 AD to 1837 AD)

Summary

A country house, built in 1803, and a service wing, which are protected by Grade I Listing.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA7188 - 2014 photographic survey of Longner Flat, Longner Hall by Bleazard and Galletta LLP
• ESA7515 - 2015 Photographic survey of eastern wing of Longner Hall by Bleazard & Galletta

Description

Country house. 1803, by John Nash on site of earlier house. Red sandstone ashlar with grey sandstone ashlar dressings and details; red brick and rendered brick to rear of service wing; plain tile roof, 2-span over main range. Irregular L-plan; main block with 2 ranges with gabled cross-wing to west and service wing projecting at north-west corner; Tudor Gothic Revival style. 2 storeys. Plinth, moulded cornice, battlemented parapet, and parapeted gables with diagonal corner pinnacles at feet and pinnacles at apices; ashlar stacks with octagonal shafts and moulded caps; ridge stacks with paired shafts, to front ridge of main range and to cross-wing, stack in valley of main range, and external lateral stacks to north-east of main range and south-west of cross-wing with 3 and 2 shafts respectively, Square-headed casements with 4-centred arched lights, glazing bars with Y-tracery, and hoodmoulds. South (garden) front: gabled wing to left has 2-storey flat-topped canted bay with panelled tracery to 6-light windows, Gothic panelled framing between, and 2-light louvred attic opening above; main range set back to right with 2 first-floor 2-light casements and 3 pairs of ground-floor French casements with 4-centred arches within square heads, and hoodmoulds; grey sandstone loggia in angle, 4 bays to front and returned along east front in 3 bays; buttresses rising to pinnacles, and battlemented parapet; 4-centred moulded arches with probably later glazing in front arches and one arch to east, consisting of 2 lights with Y-traceried glazing bars and panelled tracery above; panelled soffit with, carved bosses, and brackets with pierced spandrels resting on corbels Right-hand return front: first-floor 2-light casement above loggia to left with 2-light louvred attic opening in gable end above; gabled range projecting to right. 2-storey flat-topped canted bay with panelled tracery to 6-light windows, and Gothic panelled framing between. Left-hand return front: 2 first-floor canted flat-topped oriel windows with 4-light casements and scalloped bases with carved bottom finials; ground-floor French casements to left with Y-tracery glazing bars, 4-centred arch and 4-part overlight; adjoining terrace was base of former conservatory in angle of west front and south front of service wing (qv); similar in style to the surviving loggia it was demolished in the 1930s. North (entrance) front: asymmetrical composition, projecting slightly to right; central 2-light casement, stack to left, and large 3-light staircase window to right with panelled tracery and chamfered reveals; central porch with angle buttresses, battlemented parapet with corner pinnacles, 4-centred arches to front and left with trefoil-panelled spandrels, arid quadripartite lierne vault with carved boss; square-headed 4-centred arched entrance with moulded surround and pair of 2-panelled doors with 5-light panelled traceried overlight. Mounting block adjoining to right dated 1676. Short section of low forecourt wall adjoining porch to left with plinth, Gothic balustrading, coping, and panelled square end pier. Service wing: L-plan, returned to north-west. Ridge stacks off-centre to left and right with paired octagonal shafts, integral brick stack in right-hand corner, and 2 brick ridge stacks to returned wing. 8 bays; 2-light casements; corbelled first-floor square oriel window in fourth bay from right, pinnacled gable over right-hand bay with 2-storey canted bay; projecting clock tower over porch in third bay from right: 3 stages; moulded plinth, side buttresses to first stage, string between first and second stages, panelled clasping buttresses and battlemented parapet to third stage, and octagonal belfry with pinnacled buttresses, ogee-headed lancet openings with finialled-hoodmoulds, battlemented parapet, and ogee lead dome with weathervane; louvred second stage openings with paired cusped lights, chamfered reveals, and hoodmoulds with carved stops, lozenge-shaped clock to front; small rectangular first-stage windows with returned hoodmoulds high up in sides, chamfered-arched entrance has hoodmould with carved shields as stops; rear of service range has short stub of wall to now-demolished conservatory projecting at south-west corner with triple-shafted stack, 2-storey canted bay to south-west, projecting short gabled wing, and pent-roofed loggia in angle of return wing to north-east with circular and octagonal sandstone columns. Interior: small vaulted entrance lobby; Staircase Hall: corridor has 5 plaster fan vaults with pendants, and fireplace with quatrefoil surround and shields; staircase off rising to landing in one flight and returning in 2 with wreathed wrought iron balustrade and apsidal end with ribs rising to Gothic frieze; staircase window contains glass by David Evans depicting 3 figures, one of them Edward Burton who died at Longner in 1558 and whose memorial is set in the grounds; ground-floor fan vault forms semi-circular balcony to first-floor vaulted corridor; Library: ceiling has central shallow quadripartite fan vault with pendants and vaulted narrow encompassing band; 4-centred arched fireplace and Gothic pelmets; Drawing Room: Gothic frieze; Dining Room: circa 1803 Gothic frieze; colour scheme, stencilling, Neo-Jacobean chimney-piece and flat-panelled ceiling are probably alterations by E. Swinfen Harris of 1884; possibly re-used 3-flight square-well back staircase with turned balusters, columnular newel and ramped moulded handrail; Gothic-panelled doors and friezes throughout house; some Gothic furniture, especially that in the Dining Room, was probably designed for the house circa 1803. Nash worked with Humphry Repton at Longner; Repton landscaped the grounds 1803-4 and his Red Book for the work is kept in the house. Longner is the only complete large surviving example of Nash's Tudor style. Buildings of England, pp173; Terence Davis, The Architecture of John Nash, Studio (1960), pp28 and 66-8; Kelly's Directory for Shropshire (1909), pp27-8; J. Summerson, The Life and Work of John Nash. Architect, London (1980), p42 <2>

Leach gives a photograph of the exterior.<4>

The Hall is not large, but, unusually for Nash, exquisitely built, of sandstone ashlar, purple with grey dressings and accents. The entrance front faces E, with a long two-storey service wing coming forward along the N side of the forecourt. The main facades face S and W and are composed to be viewed together. Then the gable-end to the r. of the S front, with its two-storey canted window bay, panel-traceried above and below and topped with battlements and pinnacles, can be seen with its twin at the l. end of the W front. Between them a veranda of four-centred arches (traceried and glazed c.1870) bends round the angle of the house, with a second S-facing gable-end above. To match the veranda an arcaded conservatory extended from the N side of the house; but this was enlarged c.1870 and removed in the mid C20, so that only its blank, originally heated, rear wall survives.
Plate 92 shows the 1805-8 staircase with Betton's stained glass.<5>

A photographic record of the north eastern wing of Longner Hall was carried out in 2014, prior to alterations and minor extensions. <6>

A photographic record, comprising colour and monochrome imagery, was undertaken of the eastern wing of Longner Hall in 2015, in association with ongoing refurbishment works. <7>

Photographed during aerial survey in 2007 (general shot). <8>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.