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SK 31 NE 3/2

COLEORTON ASHBY ROAD Coleorton Hall

(Formerly listed as SAHBY ROAD Coleorton Hall)

24.11.65

GV II*

Hall, by George Dance the younger, 1804-8 for Sir George Beaumont (7th Baronet) - second storey added 1862 by F P Cockerell, changing the stripped-down gothic of the original to a lighter, more picturesque composition. Tooled ashlar. Main front of five bays, asymmetrical, with projecting tudor-style porte-cochere with vaulted ceiling, bearing externally the arms of Beaumont and topped by statue of a lion. This leads to vaulted porch in canted full height bay. Gothic windows, ground and first floor in blank pointed arches. Second storey has sill course and windows expressed by blank dormers over. Facade further ornamented by pilaster strips and polygonal turret-like buttresses side and rear elevations symmetrical, of three and four bays with three-light mullion windows with hood-moulds. Second floor windows on brackets. To north of rear elevation a two storey embattled bay and projecting single storey dining room with ornate gable (a later addition).

Interior: entrance lobby opens into central full height polygonal hall, with pointed arched niches and openings to ground floor, iron railed gallery above, with arcade of four-centred arches. Top floor has pointed windows with stained glass to lantern. Beaumont room has ornate painted panelled ceiling, recoloured cl980. Grecian-style fireplaces and plaster ceilings, survive elsewhere, though partially concealed by inserted (but removable) partitions.

Coleorton was the seat of the Beaumont family since c1426. This is the 3rd house on the site. Sir George Beaumont, its builder (1753-1827) was an important patron of the arts, and a skilled amateur painter in his own right. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey and Scott were among his friends and Wordsworth wrote a number of poems here, while Scott began Ivanhoe. Other friends included Reynolds, Constable, Wilkie and Lawrence. Sir George was an art-collector of some importance, instrumental in founding the National Gallery, the gift of his own collection formed an important nucleus for it. The house is now offices for the National Coal Board.

The well-wooded background was 'improved' with the help of Uvedale Price, and the setting of the hall embodies many elements of the picturesque. Open on garden front, to command a 'prospect', with terraces adorned with Grecian urns. The winter garden was formed in an old quarry with high retaining walls, to designs of Wordsworth (who wrote to Sir George that he could see "nothing which true taste can approve, in any interference with nature").

Listing NGR: SK3912117312