Details
SE 8000-8100 OWSTON FERRY STATION ROAD
(west side, off)
21/145 Owston Hall
(formerly listed as
1.3.67 Owston Ferry Hall)
GV II
Wrongly marked as Nos 20 and 22 on Ordnance Survey map. House. Mid C18
with earlier C18 origins and late C18 - early C19 alterations; C19 and C20
alterations and additions. Brick, rendered to south front, whitewashed to
remainder. Concrete tile roof to main range; pantile roof to east wing;
Main range has double-depth plan with 2-room, central entrance-hall north
and south fronts; C18 2-room east wing with lobby entry to north front and
stair turret to south behind screen wall linked to C19 outbuilding which is
not of special interest. Main range: 2 storeys with attic, with lower 2-
storey east wing. North front: irregular fenestration, with 5 first-floor
windows. Entrance to right of centre has stone step with moulded nosing to
fine Doric doorcase with engaged fluted columns with acanthus capitals,
figured frieze with griffons on the dosserets, and central urn flanked by
festoons, beneath moulded cornice and modillioned pediment. C19 half-glazed
door with margin lights in reveal. Late C19 - early C20 canted bay window
to right with plate-glass sashes, pilasters, entablature with plain frieze,
bracketed hood and hipped roof. Two 12-pane sashes to left, one beneath a
segmental brick arch, the other slightly larger, inserted beneath a flat
brick arch. 2-course brick first-floor band. First floor: three 12-pane
sashes to left beneath segmental arches, C19 plate-glass sash with margin
lights in similar surround above entrance, tripartite sash to right with
central 12-pane and flanking 8-pane sashes beneath a segmental arch. All
sashes in C18 flush wooden architraves with sills. Stepped eaves. Double-
span roof with tumbled-in brick to gables and later brick-coped parapet to
valley. C20 rebuilt corniced end stacks. East wing: 3 first-floor windows.
Entrance to left of centre has flight of 3 semicircular steps to 6-flush-
panelled door beneath segmental arch flanked by single 12-pane sash to left,
pair of similar sashes to right in reveals with sills beneath segmental
arches. Similar sashes to first floor. Axial stack. South front: 6 first-
floor windows, symmetrical. Unsympathetic C20 brick entrance porch over
twin C19 doorways with half-glazed fielded-panel doors with margin lights in
architraves flanking a central half-domed niche. Single C19 full-length
ground-floor canted bay windows to each side, renovated c1986, with flights
of 3 stone steps to central French windows with glazing bars, single side
lights, panelled friezes and hipped asphalt roofs. Late C19 four-pane
first-floor sashes in earlier flush wooden architraves with sills beneath
panelled and keyed stucco flat arches. Moulded wooden eaves cornice. East
wing and adjoining screen wall set back to right, with single 4-pane sashes
to each floor in similar surrounds to main range, stone-coped parapet and
wall ramped down to square-section pier to left with truncated stone finial.
Interior. Good details, largely late C18 - early C19 but incorporating some
earlier features. Main range. Entrance hall: moulded dado rail, elliptical
arch to stairhall with moulded capitals, archivolt and moulded-panel soffit,
ornate plasterwork cornice. Stairhall: fine open-well cantilevered
staircase, perhaps C19, in early-mid C18 style, with profiled cheek-pieces,
hardwood balustrade with ramped and wreathed ridged and corniced handrail,
slender twist-on-vase balusters, square panelled newel posts with pendant
drops, and a massive, ornately-carved bulbous foot-newel with bold
gadrooning, acanthus leaf and cable moulding; moulded dado rail; ornate
plaster cornice with open-work foliate mouldings, and fine plasterwork
ceiling with central oval design of garlands and scrolled foliage, and
corner groups of musical instruments, cornucopia etc in lyre-shaped foliate
figures with fronds and ribbons. Moulded elliptical-arched opening to upper
stairhall. All ground-floor rooms have ornate plasterwork friezes and
cornices, the eastern rooms also with spine beams with moulded panelled
soffits. Fine composition chimney-piece to south-east room with twin
slender fluted columns, foliate capitals, dosserets and panelled frieze with
fronds, garlands, swags, etc beneath ornate cornice. First floor: south-
east room has late C18 foliate plasterwork frieze and cornice, and fine
composition chimney-piece with floral drops and acanthus capitals to the
pilasters, panelled frieze with arcadian figures and festoons, ornate
cornice, original marble slips and decorated cast-iron duck's-nest grate;
south-west room has moulded cornice, spine beam with fielded-panel soffit,
early-mid C18 stone chimney-piece with panelled pilasters and frieze with
fluted key, later ornate cast-iron grate, flanked by fielded-panel alcoves
with 6-fielded-panel doors; north-west room has moulded cornice, plain stone
chimney-piece flanked by 6-fielded-panel doors with L-hinges; north-east
room has moulded cornice, mid C18 wooden chimney-piece with eared
architrave, pulvinated frieze and moulded cornice, ornate cast-iron grate,
flanked by fielded-panel alcoves with 6-fielded-panel doors. Plaster floors
to attic. Moulded skirting, fielded-panel window shutters, 6-fielded-panel
doors in architraves throughout. East wing: good open-well closed-string
staircase of 1700-20 with corniced handrail, turned balusters and plain
newel-posts; fielded-panelled chimney-piece to west room with segmental arch
over inserted C20 fire surround, flanked by 6-fielded-panel doors in
panelled surround with L-hinges; late C18 - C19 moulded cornices to both
main rooms. The east wing staircase has similarities with that in Epworth
Old Rectory (qv) dated to 1709. A distinguished house, marred by C19 - C20
alterations, but retaining some very fine interior details. Adjoining
ranges to the east are not of special interest. N Pevsner and J Harris,
The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, 1978, p 334.
Listing NGR: SE8074100129
