If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Thorpe Hall, South Elkington.

Full description

Thorpe Hall was built about 1584 for Sir John Bolle. Of the original house only the west front remains. The windows and chimney stacks are 18th century. The garden was laid out by Gertrude Jekyll in 1906. For the full description and the legal address of this listed building please refer to the appropriate List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. {1}{2}{3}{4}

Thorpe Hall existed in the fifteenth and early sixteenth century belonging to the merchant family of Chapman. The datestone of 1584 on the present building suggests a date for the oldest surviving part of the Hall. The house was acquired by the Bolle family and Sir John Bolle (?1560-1606) bought it from his uncle. The family continued to live at the Hall until the eighteenth century although the family was severely hit by fines following the Civil War. Charles Bolle inherited the house in 1679 and carried out major rebuilding works at the property. When Charles' brother John died in 1733 his estates were left to his half sister Elisabeth Bosvile, her daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and James Birch, mortgaged the Hall in 1759. This mortgage eventually passed to Rev. William Chaplin who purchased the property in 1825, having lived there for several years. In 1830 the Hall was bought by Rev. John Wilson and then passed to his brother-in-law, John Fytche, who died in 1855. John Lewis Fytche, his son, lived in the Hall from 1855 to 1885 when he went bankrupt. The house then passed through the hands of several owners until purchased by Geoffrey Harmsworth in 1938. During the Second World War the house was requisitioned and used as an Army Officers' Mess. Thorpe Hall was bought and sold several times after the war but remains (2003) a private house. {5}

An historic building appraisal was undertaken of Thorpe Hall in December 2013, to assess the impact of proposed internal alterations. Although only the west front remains of the 1584 construction, elements of the 17th century remodelling can be found throughout, including the use of red brick and stone quoins, the hipped roofs, and the panelling in the entrance hall and dining room. The dog-leg staircase and the imported Jacobean over-mantel are also of 17th century date. Further extensions and alterations were made to the house in the 18th century, including the replacement of the windows, chimney stacks and the eastern elevation. The main form of the house and outbuildings seems to have been established by the 19th century, although there are likely to have been numerous internal changes since then, particularly during the building's military use during the Second World War. {6}{7}

<1> Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris, with Nicholas Antram, 1989, Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (Second Edition), p.545 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1062.

<2> 1897->, Country Life, vol.CLXXXVII, 1993, p.30 (Serial). SLI3918.

<3> QuBE Planning Ltd., 2008, Louth Conservation Area Appraisal, Westgate Fields character area (Report). SLI12156.

<4> Department of the Environment, 1986, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 8/4 (Index). SLI7686.

<5> Terence R. Leach, 1990, Lincolnshire Country Houses and their Families - Part One, pp.78-80 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI7131.

<6> Allen Archaeology Ltd, 2014, Thorpe Hall, South Elkington, AAL site code: SETH 13 (Report). SLI14901.

<7> Allen Archaeology Ltd, 2014, Thorpe Hall, South Elkington, LCNCC 2013.207 (Archive). SLI14902.

Monument Types

• COUNTRY HOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1584 AD to 2050 AD)
• OFFICERS MESS (Second World War - 1940 AD to 1945 AD)
• REQUISITIONED BUILDING (Second World War - 1940 AD to 1945 AD)

Associated Events

• Site visit as part of Louth Conservation Area Appraisal
• Thorpe Hall, South Elkington

Protected Status

• Listed Building
• Conservation Area

Sources and further reading

Related records

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