This article is about the house in Northamptonshire. For the house in Essex, see Kirby Hall, Essex. For the school in Austin, Texas, see Kirby Hall School.
Kirby Hall is a Grade I listedElizabethancountry house, located near Gretton, Northamptonshire, England. The nearest main town is Corby. One of the great Elizabethan houses of England, Kirby Hall was built in 1570 for Sir Humphrey Stafford of Blatherwick. In 1575, Sir Christopher HattonofHoldenby purchased the property,[1] Hatton was Lord Chancellor to Queen Elizabeth I. It is a leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house. Construction on the building began in 1570, based on the designs in French architectural pattern books and expanded in the Classical style over the course of the following decades. The house is now in a semi-ruined state with many parts roof-less although the Great Hall and state rooms remain intact. The gardens, with their elaborate "cutwork" design, complete with statues and urns, have been recently restored. Anne of Denmark stayed at Kirby on 9 August 1605 while her husband King James I stayed at Rockingham Castle.[2]
During the 1780s, George Finch-Hatton had begun renovating the hall's interior drastically into 18th century style while preserving the exterior intact, he removed and sold the Tudor wood panelling, in exchange for wallpaper and pediment. The Hall began its slow decline when George and Lady Elizabeth's newly built palatial mansion Eastwell Park was finished and the family moved there entirely.[7]
By the late 1880s, the hall had been completely abandoned and in ruins, the 12th Earl of Winchilsea, uncle to Denys Finch Hatton, dreamed to preserve and "if ever his ship came in" to restore the ancestral property to its old splendour, he was never able to carry out his dream. He died in 1898 and the title passed to his brother, Denys's father.[8]
The building and gardens are still owned by the Earl of Winchilsea. The site was designated a scheduled monument in 1927.[9]
Media related to Kirby Hall at Wikimedia Commons
