Ince Blundell Hall

Ince Blundell Hall is in Georgian style.[20] It is constructed in brick with sandstone dressings, and has an L-shaped plan. The main block faces southeast; it is in two storeys with an attic, and has a front of nine bays.[21][22] Richard Pollard and Nikolaus Pevsner describe the front as being in late English Baroque style, and consider that it was "evidently inspired" by the front of Buckingham Palace, London.[21] Between the upper storey and the attic is an entablature with a cornice and a panelled parapet. The central three bays project forward, the lower storeys are flanked by pairs of giant pilasters, and at the sides of the central doorway are giant columns. There are more pilasters at the ends of the building, and in the central three bays of the attic. All the pilasters and columns are Corinthian in style. The windows are sashes and are surrounded by architraves. The ground floor windows in the central bays have segmental heads with keystones, and those in the outer bays have friezes and pediments carried on consoles. Below the upper floor windows are panelled aprons and consoles. The central doorway has a segmental head and a keystone carved with the Blundell arms. At the corners of the front are quoins.[21][22]

To the right of the main block is a 19th-century single-storey wing with five bays, the central three of which are canted. Behind is a single-storey block, linking the main block to the service block, which is at right angles to the rear.[22] The service block is Henry Blundell's "offices", and is in Palladian style.[23] It faces southwest, is in two storeys, and has a seven-bay front, plus a three-storey three-bay pavilion to the right. The central three bays of the service block project forward under a pediment. Above the central porch is a Diocletian window. There is a clock in the gable, and over the pediment is a cupola carried on Tuscan columns. The windows are sashes with wedge lintels. The central bay of the pavilion is round-headed and recessed, and its windows are a mixture of Diocletian, tripartite, and oculi.[22]

When the house was first built, the main entrance was through the centre of the southeast face, which led into an entrance hall.[24] Following the alterations carried out by Weld Blundell in the 19th century, the portico of the Pantheon became the new main entrance.[25] When the house was converted into a nursing home, a new entrance was created at the rear.[26] At the time the Weld Blundell family moved from the house, the entrance hall was used as a Library, the Drawing Room was to the left, and a Billiard Room to the right. To the right of this was the Dining Room, and behind it was the Gallery.[6] The Billiard Room has become the Music Room,[27] the former Library is a lounge for the residents,[24] and the former Gallery is the chapel for the staff and residents.[17]

The interior of the house has retained much of the decoration carried out by Crace.[21] The ceiling contains Rococo plasterwork dating from about 1750 depicting symbols relating to music and hunting, together with representations of learning and cultivation. On the walls are paintings by Crace.[28] Pollard and Pevsner refer to these as being "delicately pretty Raphaelesque decoration".[21] The former Entrance Hall is "small, simple and sober", and the Staircase Hall behind it is "not a grand space at all".[21] The Dining Room, also decorated by Crace, contains oak panelling on the walls, and painted panels in the ceiling. The oak fireplace replaces the original marble fireplace that was removed when the Weld Blundell family left the house.[29] There is also a scheme of Crace decoration in the former Gallery.[21]

The Pantheon is at the angle between the main block and the service block. It is built in stone with a lead dome and has a circular plan. On the southeast side is an Ionic portico with four columns, a frieze, and a cornice. On the exterior are niches and panels with reliefs. Inside is an Ionic pilastrade, a frieze decorated with triglyphs and roundels, and niches for statues, four of which are in the shape of Venetian windows. The interior of the dome is coffered, and it has a central glazed oculus, which is the only source of lighting for the building.[11][30]

The Garden Temple, which is in the form of a temple, stands in the grounds to the south of the hall. It was probably designed by William Everard, and it was restored in about 2000. The building is mainly in stuccoed brick with stone dressings, and has a hipped roof. On the front is a Tuscan portico with four columns, reliefs, and busts, and in the pediment is a mask. The frieze contains a Latin inscription, which translates as "In this place it is summer and winter all year round",[lower-alpha 2] referring to the fact that the building was heated by air from external fireplaces. Behind the portico is a three-bay palistrade, and a central entrance flanked by niches and with a relief above. Inside there are recesses for statues, two in the shape of Venetian windows. Some Roman masks and relief panels have been set into the walls.[32][33]

Despite its name, this was not the previous hall, as the present hall was built on the site of the older hall. Its original purpose is unknown, and in the 19th century it was used for drying hops.[34] The building stands in the grounds to the southwest of the hall. It is in brick with stone dressings, and has a roof partly of stone-slate and partly of slate. The building has three storeys and a front of five irregular bays. The windows are mullioned, and the entrances have quoins and large lintels with slight Tudor arches.[34][35]

The church is at right angles to the north end of the service block. It was originally the family chapel, and has since been used as a Roman Catholic parish church. It was built in 1858–60 and designed by J. J. Scoles. The church is in brick with stone dressings and has a slate roof. The exterior is relatively plain, but the interior is elaborately decorated, some of which may have been executed by Crace; there are also paintings by Gebhard Flatz.[23][36]

The stables are in the grounds to the southwest of the hall. They were built in about 1800–14, and are in brick with stone dressings and a hipped slate roof. The stables are in two storeys and have a nine-bay front, the central three bays projecting forward under a pedimented gable. In the centre is a recessed round-headed entrance with angle pilasters, an archivolt, and a keystone. Above this is a Diocletian window. Elsewhere the windows in the ground floor are sashes with wedge lintels, and those in the upper storey are oculi. There are more round-headed recesses in the end bays, and a 20th-century garage to the north.[34][37]

In the garden to the south of the main block is a monument in the form of a marble Tuscan column on a stone plinth. It carries an eagle, and dates from the early 19th century.[23][38] To the southwest of the hall is a sundial dated 1741. This consists of a stone baluster, and its metal plate is missing.[23][39] Further to the southwest is an octagonal structure built into the wall of the kitchen garden. It is in stuccoed brick with a slate roof, and has a round-headed entrance and a keystone decorated with an acanthus. This flanked by recesses, and there are more recesses inside.[40] Also within the grounds of the hall is the base of a medieval wayside cross, which is a scheduled monument.[41][42]

Lion Gate

The most impressive entrance to the grounds is the Lion Gate on the A565 road to the south of the hall. It was designed by Henry Blundell in the 1770s, its Baroque style design copied from a gateway in the background of one of his paintings, the Marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne by Sebastiano Ricci.[18][23] The gate is constructed in sandstone and consists of a central round-arched entrance and two flat-headed pedestrian entrances. The central entrance is in Doric style with columns, and an entablature with a triglyph frieze including bucrania and rosettes. On the top is a broken pediment containing a cartouche and an urn decorated with ram's heads and festoons. The pedestrian entrances have rusticated surrounds. Above one is a statue of a lion, and above the other is a lioness. The entrances contain cast iron gates.[8][43] The East Gate dates from the 1770s, and was probably also designed by Henry Blundell. It has a round-headed central entrance and flat-headed pedestrian entrances, and is simpler than the Lion Gate. The central entrance is flanked by Ionic pilasters, there is a fluted frieze with a decorated central panel, and a pediment. Above the pedestrian entrances are tented caps decorated with festoons and rosettes.[34][44]

West Lodge

The West Lodge, also on the A565 road, is to the north of the Lion Gate. Dating from the middle of the 19th century it is in French Renaissance style, built in brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. The lodge has three bays, the central lodge with two storeys, and the outer lodges with one storey and attics. The central bay is flanked by pilasters, and has a round-headed entrance with archivolts, a keystone, and decorated spandrels. The windows are round-headed sashes; there is a pair above the entrance, and one in each of the outer bays. In the attics are dormers with ball finials. The outer bays have hipped roofs, the central bay has a pyramidal roof, and all have spike finials.[34][45] The simplest entrance is the Northeast Gate, dating from the 1770s, consisting of a pair of gate piers with later gates. The rusticated piers are in stone and have moulded caps and flattened ball finials.[46]