Conyngham Hall

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

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

330724

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Hargrove, E, History of the Castle Town and Forest of Knaresborough, (1809), 143
Speight, H, Nidderdale, (1906)
Jennings, B, A History of Harrogate and Knaresborough, (1970), 433-7

End of official list entry

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