Building record MLI51101 - Glentworth Hall

Summary

Large country house which dates from about 1566, which was altered in 1753.

Type and Period (2)

  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1567 AD to 2050 AD)
  • (Post Medieval to Mid 20th Century - 1753 AD to 1949 AD)

Protected Status/Designation

Full Description

Large country house which dates from about 1566, which was altered in 1753. The building was in a very severe state of dilapidation in 1951, with much of the interior seriously vandalised. The stables of 1753, now converted to cottages, are also listed. For the full description and the legal address of these listed building please refer to the appropriate List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. {1} The original Glentworth Hall was a quadrangular Elizabethan mansion built in about 1567 to 1568 for Sir Christopher Wray (for full details of the lives of Sir Christopher Wray and his descendants, see Leach). It was surrounded by a deer park and formal gardens. By the mid 18th century there were no more direct descendants of the Wray family and the house passed to more distant relatives. In 1753 the architect James Paine was employed by Thomas Lumley, 3rd Earl of Scarbrough, to undertake an ambitious redesigning of the house and gardens although this was not completed as the Earl and his family moved to a different house before the rebuilding of Glentworth Hall was finished. However, the east wing was completed and an ornamental lake and possibly other garden features had been created before the project was abandoned. By this time the remains of the Tudor house (north, south and west wings) had already started to fall into ruin and contemporary drawings show most of the windows bricked up. During the 20th century the house was requisitioned by the RAF who added various structures to the rear of the main building. The older areas of the house continued to be neglected and the south and west wings were demolished in the 1990s. A wall was also built through the remains of the courtyard, re-using some of the stone from the demolished wings. The Georgian part of the house has survived better, although it has lost its top storey, and a truncated section of the Tudor north wing also survives. The stables which had been built for the new house of 1753 were converted into cottages by 1949. {2}{3} The area immediately west of Glentworth Hall, though ploughed up, still exhibits traces of terracing and limestone rubble walls forming a regular rectangular layout, presumably of formal gardens (see MLI98355) likely to go with the late 16th century house. {4}{5}{6}{7} In 2001 the remains of the west and south wing were excavated, although not for archaeological purposes. No records of that excavation exist but it was not backfilled and so the exposed areas were surveyed and recorded in 2006. The works were conducted as part of a programme of extensive repairs and refubishment to the hall. {8}

Sources/Archives (8)

  •  Index: Department of the Environment. 1985. List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. 4/32.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris, with Nicholas Antram. 1989. Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (Second Edition). p.309.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Terence R. Leach. 1990. Lincolnshire Country Houses and their Families - Part One. pp.70-2, figs.45-8.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: P.L. Everson, C.C. Taylor and C.J. Dunn. 1991. Change and Continuity: Rural Settlement in North-West Lincolnshire. pp viii,54; ARCHIVE NOTES.
  •  Aerial Photograph: Paul Everson. 1975-90. RCHM. 2982/12; 2937/20.
  •  Aerial Photograph: COLE, C.. 1993-2002. InnerVisions Business Presentations. 203/0997/7.
  •  Map: Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. 1992-1996. National Mapping Programme. SK9488: LI.610.5.1-5.
  •  Report: Tony Sumpter Archaeological Consultancy. 2006. Glentworth Hall: Archaeological Asessment and Post-Excavation Survey. -.

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Location

Grid reference Centred SK 94338 88222 (59m by 40m) Surveyed
Civil Parish GLENTWORTH, WEST LINDSEY, LINCOLNSHIRE

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

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Record last edited

Dec 9 2021 9:03AM

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