Description

SE50SW SPROTBROUGH CUSWORTH HALL

7/143 Cusworth Hall

27.5.53

GV I

Country house, now local authority museum. 1740-45 by George Platt for William
Wrightson, alterations 1749-53 by James Paine. Ashlar, slate roofs. 6 x 5 bay
double-pile plan with front quadrant walls linking to 5 x 2 bay service wings
facing entrance courtyard; 7-bay garden front to rear flanked by separately-roofed
pavilions. Main block: 3 storeys with semi-basement. Entrance front: 2:2:2 bays
divided by channelled quoinstrips rising as giant Doric pilasters, central bays
break forward slightly. Square basement windows beneath band. 2 flights of steps
with wrought-iron balustrades sweep up to entrance feature having double doors,
fanlight and flanking casements in Doric Venetian surround with projecting voussoirs
to archivolt. Outer bays have sashes with glazing bars in architraves with projecting
sills and cornices. 1st-floor string course beneath Ionic Venetian window with
shaped sill blocks and keyed archivolt; flanking windows as ground floor, no cornices.
2nd floor: central bays have 4-pane sashes in architraves, 6-pane sashes to outer
bays. Central pediment with plain tympanum, full entablature to outer bays. Hipped
roof with 2, corniced ridge stacks. Low quadrant wall on left has central doorway
flanked by sashes in keyed, round-arched panels and forms link to 2-storey service
wing of 2:1:2 bays. Wing has plinth and rusticated quoins. Central bay has quoined
doorway with 5-part keystone and cornice, outer bays with unequally-hung, 15-pane
sashes in plain architraves. Similar surrounds to centre-pivoted, 6-pane casements
on 1st floor. Pediment to central bay; hipped, stone slate roof with square clock
turret having ogee cupola and weathervane. Similar quadrant wall on right of main
block has Ionic porch and links to matching kitchen wing now without its original
stacks. 2-bay returns of each service wing have gate piers linked to outside corners,
wrought-iron gates to'those on left. Garden front: 2:3:2 bays with rusticated
semi-basement. Central ground-floor window has balustraded apron, 16-pane sash,
eared architrave and consoled cornice; central lst-floor window has eared architrave;
otherwise as outer bays of entrance front. To each side, a recessed, single-storey
bay with flight of steps, door and balustraded cornice forms link to single-storey
(with basement) pavilion. Pavilions each have rusticated basement and central round
arch enclosing balustraded apron to Ionic tripartite window set beneath a Diocletian
window; flanking semi-domed niches; pediments. Right return of right-hand pavilion
has canted bay-window with balustrading to aprons and parapet. Similar projection to
left-hand pavilion forms chapel apse.

Interior: many excellent features. Of principal interest the Chapel, in pavilion to
left of garden front, with rich plasterwork by Joseph Rose, ceiling painting of the
Ascension by Francis Hayman; apse separated by a serliana with festooned open
pediment. Other pavilion: marble fireplace with Vitruvian-scroll frieze, Ionic pillars
flank bay-window, coved ceiling with Rococo plasterwork. Main entrance hall: crinoidal
limestone fireplace, ornate doorcases; Doric arcaded screen to transverse corridor with
segmentally-pedimented doorcase opposite and a Doric serliana to corridor on each side.
Room to left of entrance has pedimented overmantel with portrait of William Wrightson.
Library opposite has Adam-style bookcases. Other ground-floor rooms with good
fireplaces and enriched ceilings. Principal staircase: open string with fluting to
alternate balusters, Wrightson arms in ceiling over. lst-floor corridor: Ionic
pilasters and pedimented doorcases. Kitchen service wing: 3 fireplaces with keyed,
segmental arches; breadovens; copper and fireplace in laundry. Home of the Wrightson
and Battie-Wrightson families, purchased by local authority in 1961 and has sewed
present purpose since 1967.
H. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840,1978,p610,p640.
G. Smith, Cusworth Hall and the Battie-Wrightson Family, 1976 ed.

Listing NGR: SE5464603904

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Cusworth Hall and Park at Wikipedia
• Cusworth Hall and Park official website
• Wikidata Q3007917

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6