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NUNEATON AND BEDWORTH ARBURY PARK SP38NW 4/7 Arbury Hall 06/12/47 GV I

Country house. Late C16 for Sir Edmund Anderson. Chapel remodelled 1678. Completely remodelled and Gothicised 1749-1803 for Sir Roger Newdigate. Designs by William Hiorn, mason-architect 1748-1755, Henry Keene 1761-1776 and Henry Couchman, clerk of works 1776-1789, and probably also by Sir Roger himself; Sanderson Miller may also have been involved. Grey Attleborough and Wilnecote sandstone ashlar. Roofs hidden by parapets. Ashlar external and other stacks. Courtyard plan. Gothic Revival style, with late Perpendicular details. 3 storeys. Moulded plinth and string courses, and moulded and embattled parapets with crocketed pinnacles throughout. Moulded and chamfered 4-centred openings throughout. Sashes and casements have Gothick glazing bars. South garden front: western bay window 1752, eastern bay 1761, central Dining Room range 1769-1779. Symmetrical. 1-1-3-1-1 bays. Projecting wings have polygonal clasping buttresses to outer corners, with blind quatrefoil and lancet panelling, rising into panelled and crocketed pinnacles. 2-storey polygonal bays have windows to 3 sides, leaf carving and blind arches. Elaborately moulded quatrefoil panel with coat of arms below first floor windows. Second floor has straight-headed windows of 2 arched lights with hood moulds throughout. Large one-storey 3-bay central projection has polygonal clasping buttresses rising into panelled and crocketed turrets with niches. Elaborate decoration throughout, with blind arcading and quatrefoil frieze, and arcaded parapet with panelled and crocketed pinnacles between bays. Large 4-light windows have panel tracery and ogee outer arches with finials. Lower single-storey bays to left and right have moulded doorways with hood moulds, and double-leaf sash doors with painted wood tracery and blind tracery panels. Openwork embattled parapets. First floor has sashes. North entrance front, probably designed 1783 but built 1792-1796, of 1-3-1 bays. Large external stacks between centre and blank outer bays. Angles have buttresses with turrets similar to garden front. Central 3-bay porte-cochere has angle and other buttresses rising into panelled crocketed pinnacles. Moulded cornice and parapet with finials. Interior is vaulted, with moulded piers. Central double-leaf sash door has fanlight with painted wood tracery. Flanking bays have small quatrefoil window in square panel. Windows to left and right of porte-cochere on each floor are mostly blind. First floor has more elaborately treated windows; central tripartite window has simple intersecting tracery. Second floor has central 2-light window, similar to garden front. East front of c.1786. Two storeys; 1-3-2-1 bays. 3 large external stacks. Detailing largely similar to entrance front. 3-bay section has large polygonal one-storey bay window, of 7 mullioned and transomed lights with elaborate Gothick glazing. Central sash door. Blind fret frieze, moulded cornice and vine leaf frieze. Crocketed pinnacles and fleur-de-lys cresting. West front of 1789-1803 is irregular. Some rubble walling and remains of blocked mullioned and transomed windows may be a survival from the earlier house. 3 large external stacks. Interior: Entrance Hall and the Cloisters of 1783-1785 have plaster quadripartite vaulting with moulded ribs and shafts. Semi-circular apse has stone geometrical staircase with re-used openwork balusters, scrollwork, newel posts and finials of c.1580. Old armorial glass in some windows. Chapel has plaster ceiling of 1678 by Edward Martin. Central shaped panel has inner wreath and deep coving with festoons, and richly decorated outer border of flowers, fruit and foliage. Small similarly decorated shaped panels. Acanthus cornice. Contemporary panelling of bolection-moulded lower panels; upper moulded panels have shouldered and indented architraves, and are separated by carved drops suspended from winged cherubs' heads. Arched organ recess at west end has fluted Tuscan pilasters, more elaborate drops between the panels, and a late C18 ceiling. Panelled pulpit. Library of 1754-1761 by Hiorn has Gothick panelling with shafts, cornice and ogee-gabled bookcases, and open fretwork arches to bay window and recess. Chimney-piece has panelling and canopy of 3 ornamented ogee arches. Segmental plaster ceiling with 'Etruscan' motifs and medallions from a design of 1791 by Sir Roger. Dining Room by Keene 1769-1773 on the site of the hall. Plaster fan vaulting with wall shafts. Windows are treated as an aisle with Gothick-panelled arches. Very large fireplace has polygonal turrets with crocketed buttresses, moulded arch and a row of triangular canopied niches with cresting. Tall elaborate canopied niches above fireplace and in walls have casts of Roman statues. East wall has Gothic-panelled recess with Classical relief. Gothic-panelled doors and doorcases with triple canopies and pinnacles. Drawing Room by Keene 1762-1763 has Gothick plaster panelling with inset portraits. Segmental Gothic plasterwork vault, and fan vault in bay window. Chimneypiece, inspired by the monument of Aymer de Vallance in Westminster Abbey, carved 1764 by Richard Hayward of Weston Hall (q.v.). Saloon, Little Sitting Room and School Room (Chaplain's Room), all decorated under direction of Couchman. Saloon of 1786-1794, probably from designs by Keene, has vaulting and pendants inspired by Henry VII's chapel; scagliola columns and Gothic capitals were supplied by Joseph Alcott 1797. Little Sitting Room has marble fireplace of c.1740 with eared architrave. School Room has Gothick fireplace with ogee arch, inset with Classical medallions probably carved by Hayward. Long Gallery on first floor has stone fireplace of c.1580. Panelling, and possibly the painted wooden overmantel with columns and obelisks, of c.1606. Shallow Gothic plaster vault and large moulded arch to lobby of 1787. 'Arbury Hall is one of the finest examples of the early Gothic Revival in England' (Buildings of England, p67). The house was built on the site of a monestery. (VCH: Warwickshire: Vol IV, p173-174; Buildings of England: Warwickshire: p67-71; Gordon Nares: Arbury Hall, Country Life 8 October 1953, pp1126-1129; 15 October 1953, p1210-1213; 29 October 1953, pp1414-1417; G.C. Tyack: Country House Building in Warwickshire 1500-1914, ppl98-206; Arbury Hall guidebook)

Listing NGR: SP3351989255