Courteenhall House,

Courteenhall Courteenhall is a village south of the county town of Northampton, in the shire county of Northamptonshire, England, and about north of London. The population of the civil parish was 122 at the 2011 census. The village is located in a cul-de-sa ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, England is an 18th-century

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

built for

Sir William Wake, 9th Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

. Wake's architect was Samuel Saxon. The architectural style of the house is Neoclassical, and it is described by Pevsner as having been built with "great restraint but great sensitivity". Construction took place between 1791 and 1793. The grounds were laid out by

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

. The house remains the private home of the Wake family. Courteenhall House is a Grade II* listed building. The surrounding gardens and parkland are listed Grade II.

History

The original estate at Courteenhall was a possession of St James's Abbey at

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

. At the Dissolution of the monasteries it was bought by the Ouseleys. The estate came into the possession of the

Wake baronets The Wake Baronetcy, of Clevedon in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 5 December 1621 for Baldwin Wake. The sixth Baronet assumed the additional surname of Jones but died childless. The eighth Ba ...

in the 18th century. The Wakes had farmed in Northamptonshire since the mid-13th century. On the advice of

, Sir William Wake (1768–1846) built a new house, on higher ground to the north west of the Ouseley's house. His architect, also a recommendation of Repton, was Samuel Saxon, who had trained in the office of Sir William Chambers. The house was built between 1791 and 1793. Courteenhall remains the private home of the Wake family but is occasionally open for events, or for private hire.

Architecture and description

The house is of three storeys and seven bays, with a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

. It is built of local

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

. The architectural style is neoclassical and Pevsner repeatedly references the sophisticated and refined style of the design. The interior follows a typical 18th century pattern, with entrance hall, drawing room, dining room and library. The house is a Grade I listed building. The stable block, with attached coach houses, stables and a barn, is also listed Grade II*. The stables have been attributed to

John Carr John Carr may refer to: Politicians *John Carr (Indiana politician) (1793–1845), American politician from Indiana *John Carr (Australian politician, born 1819) (1819–1913), member of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1865–1884 * John H ...

. The surrounding garden and parkland, notable for its trees, is designated Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. The park was laid out by Repton.

Footnotes

References

Sources

* * {{commons category, Courteenhall Houses completed in the 18th century Grade II* listed houses Grade II* listed buildings in Northamptonshire Gardens by Humphry Repton