North Luffenham Hall Explained

North Luffenham Hall
Type:House
Map Relief:yes
Coordinates:52.6188°N -0.62°W
Location:North Luffenham, Rutland
Built:16th - 18th centuries with 20th-century additions
Architect:Sidney Gambier-Parry for the 20th-century additions
Owner:Private
Designation1:Grade I
Designation1 Offname:North Luffenham (or Luffenham) Hall
Designation1 Date:10 November 1955
Designation1 Number:1073899
Designation2:Grade II* listed building
Designation2 Offname:Barn at Luffenham Hall
Designation2 Date:10 November 1955
Designation2 Number:1073900
Designation3:Grade II listed building
Designation3 Offname:Stables at Luffenham Hall
Designation3 Date:10 November 1955
Designation3 Number:1361450
Designation4:Grade II listed building
Designation4 Offname:Gazebo, Gate Piers and Wall at Luffenham Hall
Designation4 Date:10 November 1955
Designation4 Number:1177916
Designation5:Grade II listed building
Designation5 Offname:Garden Room, Gateway and Walls and Gate Piers at Luffenham Hall
Designation5 Date:10 November 1955
Designation5 Number:1307221

North Luffenham Hall, (sometimes Luffenham Hall), North Luffenham, Rutland, England stands on the southern edge of the village, adjacent to the Church of St John the Baptist. Originally the manor house, and then known as Luffenham Hall when the original hall was demolished in 1806, it has also been known as Digby Hall, after a family which owned it. The oldest parts of the present structure date from the mid-16th century. The hall was enlarged in the 18th century, and again in the early 20th century. North Luffenham Hall is a Grade I listed building. Other buildings within the complex have their own listings.

History and description

The oldest part of the North Luffenham Hall complex is a barn which stands just to the north-east of the hall. This carries a datestone of 1555. Elizabeth Williamson, in her Leicestershire and Rutland volume in the Buildings of England series, revised and reissued in 2003, suggests that the north front of the hall shows evidence of 16th- and 17th-century work, while the south frontage is more confused, being "obscured" by a classical façade added in the early 18th century, and by a service wing added in the early 20th century. The hall served originally as the manor house to the manor of North Luffenham and was owned by the Harrington family. In the later 16th century it was bought by the Digby family. In the early 20th century the owner was an E. Guy Fenwick who engaged Sidney Gambier-Parry to construct the service wing.

The hall is built to a double-pile plan. The roof line is enlivened by multiple gables, dormers and chimney stacks. The build material is rubble stone, embellished with ashlar. The interior retains some 17th-century fittings, including extensive wood panelling. Marcus Binney, the architectural historian, describes North Luffenham as "grandeur in miniature", noting the pleasing symmetry of the facades and the sympathetic, and costly, restoration undertaken by the building's 21st-century owners. North Luffenham Hall is a Grade I listed building. The barn is listed at Grade II*, while the stables, and two sets of gates and walls, together with a gazebo and a garden room, are listed at Grade II.

Sources

. Marcus Binney. In Search of the Perfect House: 500 of the Best Buildings in Britain and Ireland. London, UK. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2007. 9-780297-84455-6.