Cornhill Manor with detached motor house

Summary

Large house of 1908, designed by Harold Ogle Tarbolton for FH Burn, with associated motor house.

Reasons for Designation

Cornhill Manor, a house of 1908 by Harold Ogle Tarbolton, and its adjacent motor house are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the quality of the design, which demonstrates an understanding of Arts and Crafts principles, as well as some eclectic approaches to architecture in this period;
* for the subtle use of decoration which gives discreet ornamentation and emphasis to particular areas of the house, with careful proportions and massing used elsewhere to give a coherent design;
* for the remarkable quality of the interior, with decoration in a variety of styles and all of particular quality, which survives well.

Historic interest:

* as a good example of a small country house of this date, built for hunting weekends, which survives well;
* for the rare survival of the associated motor house;
* for its association with the architect Harold Ogle Tarbolton.

History

The site of the property now known as Cornhill Manor is shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey of 1885 as being occupied by a property called Pattishall House. This building occupied a smaller footprint than the present house, although it appears to have been orientated similarly, with a principal garden elevation facing roughly south. The house had a large walled garden and a range of outbuildings and an associated cottage; these largely survive today.

The present house on the site was built around 1908 for Frank Hawthorn Burn, to designs by architect Harold Ogle Tarbolton. FH Burn was the owner and manager of West Stanley Colliery in County Durham, and the new house, still called Pattishall House, was built for him for use for hunting parties. The previous house was demolished and the new, larger house built in its place on the same site. A new motor house was also built, apparently adapting and extending an earlier building, and a new range of stables in addition to the existing ones.

The house was provided with rooms for entertaining, including a large ballroom, and family and guest bedrooms as well as staff accommodation. Sale particulars for the property in 1925 describe it as having fifteen bedrooms, nurseries, a boudoir, four reception rooms, a music or dancing room, and 'all modern conveniences'. The layout of the house is shown on an original plan signed by Tarbolton. It was complemented by 'complete hunting stabling, two garages, chauffeur's flat, bailiff's house, three cottages and home farm' with land amounting to 167 acres. The same articles reports that FH Burn was selling the property as 'he had not hunted since the war'.

Following the sale of the property by Burn, the house later changed for use as a hotel during the C20, and subsequently to institutional use.

Harold Ogle Tarbolton (1869-1947) was born in England and trained as an architect in London, but during his professional career worked mainly in Scotland, based in Edinburgh, with a small number of commissions in England and abroad. His oeuvre includes a variety of building types, including private houses, ecclesiastical, memorials and hydro-electric schemes.

Details

Large house of 1908, designed by Harold Tarbolton for FH Burn, with associated motor house.

MATERIALS: the house and motor house are both built of brick with tile roofs.

PLAN: the house's entrance facade faces north onto a wide forecourt, with its principal garden elevation on the opposite side facing south. The house is a loose L-plan, with the principal block and the service range occupying each end of the plan.

The motor house, which stands to the north-east, is roughly square on plan.

EXTERIOR: the house is designed in an Edwardian style with elements of the Arts and Crafts throughout. It is characterised externally by its brick elevations with sweeping tiled roofs, with detailing and decoration in terracotta, timber and stone.

The main door of the house is contained in a projecting gabled bay, with a dressed stone surround to ground floor only and ornately carved timber canopy. There is a small window to one side witha stylised cusped head, and glass lanterns which hang from the canopy. A carved inscription above the door reads 'VINCIT VERITAS' and there are carved panels flanking the door itself.

Aside from the main entrance, the house has varying wall planes and gabled roofscapes with tall chimneys and irregular fenestration throughout. All windows are casements with cambered heads, and there is a large stair window to the left of the main entrance. Cast iron rainwater goods have decorative hoppers throughout, some displaying the date of 1908, and others with naturalistic motifs, such as an owl catching a mouse.

The western elevation facing the side garden has two tall gabled projections with a recessed section between. The gables have applied timber framing below their moulded bargeboards, and the central section has a row of carved bosses applied to a stringcourse beneath the first floor windows.

The principal, garden facing elevation has a central section which is recessed between two projecting wings. The western wing has a large canted bay stepping forward, while the eastern wing is rectangular. The central portion has a ground floor loggia behind a carved timber arcade, with three large dormer windows in the roof above. There are large angled chimneys in the corners between this main portion of the house and the wings. Both wings have carved panels, one with a sundial, and moulded brickwork in places.

To the east, the former gun room has a stone door surround with carved date stone. Beyond this, the service wing of the house has two further projecting gables which each have tall chimneys rising from their outer parts. There are ground floor doors giving access to the covered courtyard and workshop space, and large windows to the north highlighting the kitchen within.

INTERIOR: the principal rooms of the house are arranged along the southern side, with the fromer music room, oak parlour, dining room and school room all occupying the rooms which face the garden. The octagonal vestibule and round hall provide circulation spaces, with further corridors beyond, and the principal stairs rising from the round hall to the first floor. A small water closet accessed from the vestibule has decorative C17-style plasterwork and some suriving tiled detailing. The vestibule itself has an inlaid stone floor and central plasterwork roundel. The round hall has a timber floor and open gallery above which rises to the first floor and rooflight above. Around the hall are plaster panels depicting hunting scenes. Throughout the interior of the house there are original doors surviving in many places, with differing styles of decoration and detailing.

The music room is the largest space internally. It has a sprung timber floor and recessed stage area behind a carved timber screen. The ceiling is coved around its edges with flat central section with decorative plasterwork ribs. The oak parlour beyond has timber panelled walls and C17-style plasterwork ceiling, with bosses around the cornice. This room has been extended into the hallway beyond to provide a bar space.

Beyond this, the octagonal dining room has neoclassical style decoration, including plaster relief work, with an Adam style fireplace, and beyond this a small lobby with tiled ceiling gives access to the former school room. The school room has moulded timber beams to the ceiling and a deeply moulded picture rail which is ramped around the end window, and a timber fire surround. Beyond this is a secondary stair with moulded balusters and handrail, and the former gunroom with a decorative plaster cornice.

The layout of the service wing of the house survives largely as built, with a large covered courtyard and an internal workshop, and kitchen, scullery and servants' hall. The butlers' pantry retains a tiled cupboard with a safe. A further secondary stair adjacent to the round hall has been removed apart from the flight which gives access to the extensive basement.

The principal stair which rises to the first floor in two flights has decorative moulded balusters and handrail with dado panelling to the walls. It rises through an arcade at first floor to the main landing, with open well to the hall below and lantern above with decorative plasterwork. The hall adjacent has a shallow barrel vaulted ceiling.

Bedrooms throughout have had en-suite bathrooms inserted. The main family and guest bedrooms all retain plasterwork detailing to their ceilings. The most intricate is that to the principal bedroom and guest bedrooms facing the gardens. The former childrens' room adjacent to the nursery has a plaster frieze depicting natural scenes with animals and foliage decoration. Beyond these rooms the detailing is simpler including former staff rooms which have little or no detailing.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: north-east of the house stands the former MOTOR HOUSE which is partly built into the walls of the adjacent walled garden. The motor house is of brick with tall tiled roof with some skylights. It has a recessed covered garage area with one side lit by a glazed wall and a floor of engineering bricks. Windows throughout appear to be metal with top-hung casements. The interior has boarded timber ceilings. The motor house appears to have been built incorporating a former potting shed or building which served the walled garden.

Sources

Books and journals
Bailey, Bruce, Pevsner, Nikolaus, Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (2013), 522

Websites
Biography of Harold Ogle Tarbolton, Dictionary of Scottish Architects, accessed 1 June 2022 from http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=100213

Other
First Edition Ordnance Survey 1885
Northampton Daily Echo, 2nd March 1925

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