Details
SE 3457 KNARESBOROUGH BOND END
(west side, off)
6/61 Conyngham Hall
5.2.52
GV II*
Large house now offices. Late C18 for Ellen, Countess of Conyngham, and mid
C19, probably for Basil T Woodd, MP. Coursed squared gritstone, Westmorland
slate and stone slate roof. 2 storeys, 3 bays with considerable extensions
to rear. South-east facade: central half-glazed door in Venetian-style
doorway with flanking windows, segmental pediment and keystone with female
mask and grapes. Central portico - 2 pairs of giant Ionic columns support a
plain entablature with triangular dentilled and corniced pediment. To left
and right - paired sashes in architraves with triangular corniced pediments.
First floor - 5 sashes with glazing bars, architraves and keystones. Sill-
band to ground and first floors, dentilled eaves cornice, blocking course
and balustraded parapet with phoenix-type finials. Hipped roof; stacks
flanking central pediment, and large stacks to rear wings. Left return: 2
large 2-storey canted bay windows with sashes to right and French window
flanked by sashes with glazing bars to left. Right return: large central
bay with sashes with glazing bars and balustraded parapet. Upper-floor
windows have 9-pane unequally-hung sashes throughout. Interior: front
entrance hall: Doric columns; moulded ceiling cornice; staircase hall behind
contains wide staircase of 2 flights with cast-iron balustrade, newel posts
with clustered columns and moulded wooden handrail. Doors to front and
middle halls all of 2 panels with richly-moulded architraves and plaster
pediments containing heads of putti. Front room left - former library with
C19 oak panelling, glass fronted cases, and Jacobean-style overmantle.
Ceiling of plaster or moulded paper, has figures in relief of maidens and.
warriors in scrolls with floral and armorial motifs. Front room, right -
deep ceiling cornice with classical motifs including guttae. Rooms entered
from staircase hall: left - former drawing room has fine wood-block floor
with central compass-point motif. Wall panels and ceiling cornice with
friezes of roundels and bead motifs. Classical-style wooden fire-place
carved with swags and strapwork in relief, iron fire-basket with brass
figures. Right - dining room with fine C18 plasterwork restored c1980.
Curved 2-panel door from hall is flanked by alcoves containing fitted side-
tables, each supported by 2 pairs of fluted columns. The walls and ceiling
have panels with decoration of swags of fruit and flowers, scroll and fan-
motifs, with central boss of feathery leaves. Fine Adam-style marble
fireplace. The library, drawing room and dining room all have bay windows
with original shutters. Rear hall and service rooms: ground floor- the
ceiling between staircase hall and rear hall has recessed panels and is
supported by two pairs of cast-iron Ionic fluted columns. Left - board door
to brick-vaulted cellars which are beneath the north-east and south-east
front parts of the house. Centre - a dumb waiter rises to second storey
height and has the makers name on the pulley wheel. Right -
former kitchen converted mid C20 and fire-places, blocked. Doors to rear
service rooms are all of 6-panels, ground and first floors. First floor:
landing gallery with cast-iron balustrade matching stairs, and 4 Tuscan-
style columns in antis to front range, 12 fluted decorated Ionic columns to
centre, supporting corniced ceiling. Front range of 3 rooms, not seen at
resurvey. Central room, left: former bedroom and dressing room suite with
bay window now office. Doors from landing and to dressing room decorated
with painted pictures of draped female figures in centre of top half, framed
by painted classical motif of wheat ears and delicate scrolls. They are
believed to have been made by Italian craftsmen in the late C18. Service
rooms at first floor, rear, include a linen closet with panelled cupboards
and drawers lining the walls. Conyngham Hall was renamed by Ellen, Countess
of Conyngham when she bought it in 1796. It was previously Coghill Hall,
rebuilt by Marmaduke Coghill in 1555. The Countess of Conyngham is said to
have restored and enlarged the house, but nothing of the earlier structure
was seen at the resurvey, and the stables and gates also date from this
period (q.v.). In the early C19 the house is described as having 5
projections forming bow-windows, (Hargrove, p 143), and a house of this plan
is shown on the 1851 Ordnance Survey map. In 1856 the house was bought by
Basil T Woodd, a non-practising barrister who was a Conservative candidate
in the 1852 general election. He won the 1874 election and was MP for
Knaresborough until 1880. He died in 1895 and was probably responsible for
the portico and range of rooms added to the front of the building during
that time. In 1945 the house was bought by Knaresborough Council and it has
been let to Tilcon for some years.
E Hargrove, History of the Castle, Town and Forest of Knaresborough, 1809,
p 143. B Jennings, Harrogate and Knaresborough, 1970, pp 433-7.
Ordnance Survey, Map of Knaresborough, Scale 5 feet to 1 mile, 1851.
H Speight, Nidderdale, 1906.
Listing NGR: SE3427357394
