Historic Building Recording at Canons Ashby House Northamptonshire October - December 2017

Historic Building Recording at Canons Ashby House Northamptonshire October - December 2017 Report No. 18/82 Author & illustrator: Amir Bassir _________________________________________________________________________________ MOLA Northampton 2018 MOLA Northampton Project Manager: Anthony Maull Kent House NGR: SP 57720 50645 30 Billing Road Event Number ENN108817 Northampton NN1 5DQ www.mola.org.uk [email protected] Historic Building Recording at Canons Ashby House Northamptonshire October – December 2017 Project Manager: Anthony Maull Report No. 18/82 Quality control and sign off: Issue Date Checked by: Verified by: Approved by: Reason for Issue: No. approved: 1 30.07.18 J Walford R Atkins A Maull Draft for client review 2 28.08.18 D Sorapure H Roadknight R Hall Final Report Author & Illustrator: Amir Bassir MOLA (Northampton) 2018 Undertaken on behalf of the National Trust MOLA Northampton Kent House 30 Billing Road Northampton NN1 5DQ 01604 809 800 www.mola.org.uk [email protected] MOLA Northampton is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with company registration number 8727508 and charity registration number 1155198. Registered office: Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Road, London N1 7ED. STAFF Project Manager: Anthony Maull Cert Arch Text: Amir Bassir BSc PGCert Specialist contribution: Timber: Damian Goodburn BA PhD Brick: Rob Atkins BSocSc DipArch MCIfA Fieldwork: Amir Bassir Tim Upson-Smith BA PG Dip Geomatics: Catherine Drew BA PCIfA Mark Burch MCIfA Illustrations: Amir Bassir Joanne Clawley BA MSc Aerial Photography and Photogrammetry: James Ladocha BA Acknowledgements Special thanks to Rachael Hall and Emily Knight of the National Trust for initiating this programme of recording, and to Rosalind Buck for providing supporting data. I am grateful to Helen Roadnight and her team, as well as all of the volunteers for their help and encouragement during the survey. Thanks also to MOLA timber specialist Damian Goodburn whose detailed notes and observation were invaluable to this report, and to Andrew Barber for his notes and correspondence which were greatly appreciated. Thanks are also due to Mary Ellen Crothers and Lara Band of MOLA for their excellent and well-received outreach and volunteer workshops, and to the MOLA management and communications teams. MOLA Northampton Report 18/82 ENN108699 i CANONS ASHBY HOUSE OASIS REPORT FORM PROJECT DETAILS OASIS molanort1-322973 Project title Historic Building Recording at Canons Ashby House, Northamptonshire, October – December 2017 Short description A comprehensive survey of Canons Ashby House revealed a multi- phased and complicated sequence of development and alteration from the mid 16th to the 19th century. The house originated as a pre mid 16th- century farmhouse which was expanded and modernised by John Dryden in the period 1551-1584, resulting in an H-plan house with tower. This formed the basis for later developments which expanded the structure into a courtyard plan form. Later developments, particularly in c1710, altered floor levels, room layout and access, fenestration, and overall aesthetics and decoration. Project type Historic Building Survey Previous work Archaeological watching brief Future work Unknown Pre mid 16th-century house with mid-late 16th and 17th-century Monument type and period extensions, and with 18th and 19th-century remodelling and alterations PROJECT LOCATION County Northamptonshire Site address Canons Ashby House, Canons Ashby NGR SP 57720 50645 Area c840 sq m PROJECT CREATORS Organisation MOLA Northampton Project brief originator Rachael Hall - National Trust Project Design originator MOLA Northampton Director/Supervisor Amir Bassir Project Manager Anthony Maull Sponsor or funding body National Trust PROJECT DATE Start date October 2017 End date December 2017 ARCHIVES Location (Accession no.) Content Physical NA Digital Photographs, Photogrammatic Digital models, 3D laser scan point cloud Canons Ashby House Historic Building Report, Notes, Sketch Paper Drawings, Note pads, Measured drawings on permatrace BIBLIOGRAPHY Historic Building Recording at Canons Ashby House, Northamptonshire, Title October – December 2017 Serial title & volume MOLA report,18/82 Author(s) Amir Bassir Page numbers 273 Date 07/09/18 MOLA Northampton Report 18/82 ENN108699 ii CANONS ASHBY HOUSE Contents 1 INTRODUCTION 2 2 OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY 4 3 LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY 7 4 HISTORIC BACKGROUND 7 4.1. Listing description 13 5 EXTERNAL DESCRIPTION 14 5.1. North elevation 14 5.2. West elevation 25 5.3. South elevation 35 5.4. The East elevation and passageway 42 6 THE COURTYARD ELEVATIONS 53 6.1. North elevation 53 6.2. East elevation 59 6.3. South elevation 62 6.4. West elevation 70 7 CELLARS 76 7.1. Room C1 76 7.2. Room C2, former Laundry 76 7.3. Room C3, former Dairy 77 7.4. Room C4, Tower Cellar 78 7.5. Room C5 80 7.6. Room C6, former Ale Cellar 80 7.7. Room C7 81 7.8. Room C8 81 7.9. Rooms C9 and C10 82 7.10. Room C11 82 7.11. Larder, C12 83 8 GROUND FLOOR ROOM DESCRIPTIONS 93 8.1. The north range passageway 93 8.2. The former Water House 93 8.3. The former Wash House / Laundry 97 8.4. The former Bakehouse 97 8.5. The former Brewhouse 98 8.6. Dining Room 100 8.7. The Book Room 105 8.8. Painted Parlour and Conservation Room 107 8.9. Great Hall 108 MOLA Northampton Report 18/82 ENN108699 iii CANONS ASHBY HOUSE 8.10. Great Kitchen 112 8.11. Pantry 117 8.12. Winter Parlour / Servants’ Hall 117 9 FIRST FLOOR ROOM DESCRIPTIONS 134 9.1. Spenser’s Room 134 9.2. Drawing Room 142 9.3. Tapestry Room 146 9.4. The Long Gallery 148 9.5. Nursey 152 9.6. Alice's Room 152 9.7. Staff WC / Changing Room 153 9.8. Sitting Room 153 9.9. Staff Room 164 9.10. House Office and Privy 164 10 MEZZANINE LEVEL 167 10.1. North-western Stair 167 10.2. Timber-framed bay 173 10.3. Corridor 175 10.4. Cook's Room 175 10.5. Parlour Maid's Room and adjacent WC 176 11 PRIVATE APARTMENT, NORTH RANGE 180 11.1. First Floor, Corridor, Utilities, Kitchen and Dining Room 180 11.2. First Floor Sitting Room 181 11.3. First Floor Bedroom and WC 181 11.4. North Stair 182 11.5. Second floor Bedroom and WC 182 11.6. Sir Robert's Room / Oriel Room 183 12 TOWER 189 12.1. Tower Stair 189 12.2. Spiral Stair 191 12.3. Landmark flat – Sitting Room 192 12.4. Landmark Flat – Kitchen and WC 194 12.5. Landmark Flat – Bedroom 194 12.6. Tower platform 195 13 THE ROOFS 210 13.1. East range 210 13.2. North range 219 13.3. West range 230 13.4. South range 236 MOLA Northampton Report 18/82 ENN108699 iv CANONS ASHBY HOUSE 14 DISCUSSION 243 14.1. Phase 1, Origins and early development, 16th century 243 14.2. Phase 2, late 16th – early 17th century 256 14.3. Phase 3, Late 17th to early 18th century 259 14.4. Phase 4, 19th century and early 20th century 260 14.5. Timeline 262 15 CONCLUSION 265 16 GLOSSARY 267 17 BIBLIOGRAPHY 269 MOLA Northampton Report 18/82 ENN108699 v CANONS ASHBY HOUSE Figures Fig 1: Site location Fig 2: Aerial view of the house, showing the landscape and setting, looking east Fig 3: Eyre and Jeffrey's map of 1791 Fig 4: The south and west elevations, undated photograph, late 19th century (P/9590) Fig 5: The west elevation, undated photograph, late 19th century (P/1634) Fig 6: The east and north elevations, undated photograph, late 19th / early 20th century (DR/25/54/51) Fig 7: General view of the north elevation Fig 8: The rise in string course marking a change in phasing; note anomalous stone block Fig 9: The arched alcove Fig 10: Detail of dot pattern graffiti Fig 11: The lower eastern bay window Fig 12: The upper western bay window Fig 13: Detail of Masons mark on the window head of the lower western bay window Fig 14: Detail of sash window with remains of blocked mullion window Fig 15: The mezzanine corridor window, showing the awkward position to the later kitchen window Fig 16: The north elevation Fig 17: Longitudinal section of the north range Fig 18: General view of the west elevation Fig 19: Tapestry Room window Fig 20: Detail of the inside face of the Tapestry Room window showing the red paint scheme Fig 21: Detail of the panelled reveals Fig 22: Window to the Dining Room, blocked internally by panelling Fig 23: The central part of the west elevation showing the blocked cross-passage door and early 18th-century doorway, and the symmetrical arrangement of windows Fig 24: The southern Hall window with evidence for narrowing; also showing the misalignment of string courses Fig 25: The western ground floor window which is internally cut by the mezzanine floor in Cook’s Room Fig 26: View of the chimney and parapet, looking south Fig 27: Detail of window to west range roof, blocked by the chimney Fig 28: View along the parapet, looking north Fig 29: The west elevation Fig 30: The south elevation, looking north Fig 31: The western extent of the south elevation Fig 32: The eastern extent of the south elevation Fig 33: Cavetto mullion cellar window Fig 34: The ground floor tower window Fig 35: Upper storey tower window MOLA Northampton Report 18/82 ENN108699 vi CANONS ASHBY HOUSE Fig 36: Example of the sash windows Fig 37: The south elevation Fig 38: The north and east elevations, looking south-west Fig 39: Sketch of the east elevation, 1893. Note missing louver and chimney, and former sash windows (ZA464) Fig 40: Photograph of the east range by J.

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