Listed Building record MDR751 - Bentley Hall, Hungry Bentley
Type and Period (2)
Protected Status/Designation
Full Description
This is an Elizabethan hall built of Jacobean brick and stone with flat quoins. It has a central centred bay window at the front. The west side is late 17th century in date with rusticated quoins and a pediment. The style of the building is so similar to Sudbury Hall that it may be by Sir William Wilson. (1)
The hall has some fine c.1600 exterior fabric. See G.P's AO/66/27/3 & 4. (2)
Although the north wing of Bentley Hall has outstanding architectural detail, the house is now unoccupied [in 1976] and in a state of disrepair. To the south-east of the Hall is the east arm, and partial remains of a south arm to a homestead moat [see SMR 21404]. (3)
Bentley Hall (formerly listed as The Hall) is a Grade II* listed building. It is an early 17th century and early 18th century house with 19th century additions and alterations. It is built of red brick with stone dressings, and has quoins and a plinth. It has plain tile roofs, hipped to the west end of west wing, with a brick ridge, side wall and gable stacks. It has two storeys plus garrets to the 17th century wing and two storeys to the 18th century wing. The hall has an L-shaped plan, with an advanced gabled three-bay 17th century wing to the east and a three-bay 18th century west wing. (4)
The estate at Hungry Bentley was granted by James I to Thomas Brown of Shredicote, Staffordshire, and the older part of the present house was apparently built soon after 1612-14, replacing its predecessor which stood within the nearby moat. The estate was sold by the Brownes to the Wilmots in 1749 and under them became a tenanted farm. It was sold again in 1860 to Lord Vernon and 18 years later was reported as 'fast going into decay'. It had been described by Woolley in 1712 as '… a good large park and … seat … an old house and also a very good new brick and stone house built by the late Thomas Browne…'. The park was still noted as being 'large' in the earlier 19th century but Lord Vernon seems to have put it all down to tillage. It remained a farm until at least 1975, but the house is now a private residence. (5)
Tree-ring analysis of timbers from Bentley Hall indicates that a high proportion of the timbers were felled in the late 17th-early 18th century, with a small number of timbers dating to the early 17th century. A possible interpretation is that the present hall is a late 17th-early 18th century remodelling of an early 17th century house. (6)
Hungry Bentley Hall is a small country house consisting of a Jacobean rectangular three-storey pavilion, with extension to the rear, and a c. 1700 two storey west-wing. The building id primarily of brick, with stone used for dressings, plinth and cellar walling. The older part of the building has a near-central stack and thin partition walls made from timber framing and brick an plaster infill. The building in grade II* listed as a result of not having suffered from any serious 'improvement' since the 18th century, apart from re-roofing. The Jacobean hall was built next to the in-filled north side of a medieval moated site, indicating that it replaced an earlier manor house to the south [SMR 21404]. This earlier house had an associated medieval deer park [SMR 21412]. Comparative studies of the Jacobean building and its features suggest that the building was probably completed in c. 1630, refurbished in 1672 and enlarged with the addition of a west wing in c. 1700. Some surviving timberwork indicates an original symmetrically-gabled double-pile style roof. The building was also probably ungraded in the early 1660s, with the examples of plasterwork in the first floor suite of rooms and landing, and a baroque-style canted bay added to the frontage. The farm buildings within the curtilage of the hall date from different periods of the 19th century. Many of the structures illustrated on the 1841 Tithe Map and 1st / 2nd edition Ordnance Survey maps have been demolished. The stable range, wash-house and pig stys appear to have been reconstructed and extended in the late 19th century. (7)
Sources/Archives (7)
- <1> SDR12891 Bibliographic reference: Pevsner, N. 1979. The Buildings of England: Derbyshire. 2nd ed., revised.
- <2> SDR6305 Personal Observation: F1 FRH 10-OCT-66.
- <3> SDR6627 Personal Observation: F2 JRL 29-JUL-76.
- <4> SDR5225 Bibliographic reference: DOE (HHR) Dist of West Derbyshire, July 1985, 13..
- <5> SDR4297 Bibliographic reference: Craven, M & Stanley, M. 1991. The Derbyshire Country House. pp 31-32, illus..
- <6> SDR20775 Unpublished document: Arnold, A & Howard, R (English Heritage). 2009. Bentley Hall, Derby Lane, Hungry Bentley, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, Tree-ring analysis of timbers.
- <7> SDR22111 Unpublished document: Bench Architects Ltd. 2013. Extracts from desk-top study of Bentley Hall.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | Centred SK 1776 3810 (24m by 18m) (Centred on) |
|---|---|
| Civil Parish | HUNGRY BENTLEY, DERBYSHIRE DALES, DERBYSHIRE |
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Events/Activities (5)
- EDR3101
- EDR3357
- EDR975
- EDR1479
- EDR2722
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Record last edited
Mar 15 2020 11:42AM