History of the Hall
Lilford Hall is a Grade 1 listed stately 100 room home with a 55,000 sq ft floor area, located in the eastern part of the County of Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom. A Grade 1 listed building is considered by the UK Government as of outstanding architectual and historic interest. Lilford Hall and the associated parkland of 350 acres is located north-west of the village of Lilford, part of the parish of Lilford-cum-Wigsthorpe and Thorpe Achurch.
Lilford is Jacobean-style gentry house of the 1630s, related closely with Thorpe masons through its parallels with other neighbouring houses such as Kirby Hall and Apethorpe Hall. Its plan is traditional and arranged around a 'U-shaped' court with the hall entered by a screens passage, the Great Chamber placed over the hall, leading to the principal apartment that terminated with the Great Bed-chamber.
Its development by successive generations respected the old house, but each stage has a clarity that is clearly legible and contributes to the whole. Apart from the construction of the pair of balancing stable wings by Henry Flitcroft and the successive addition of small scale extensions in the form of additional storeys to the east end of the two wings, works were confined to alterations within the house and remodelling.
The Jacobean house is considered as of considerable significance, and Henry Flitcroft's alterations in the 1740s are of a similar status. The outstanding contribution of Henry Flitcroft was with his insertion of a comprehensive set of 18C Georgian interiors that not only transformed the principal rooms into a sequence of Palladian spaces, but brought light into the heart of the building. The play of the sequence of 18C Georgian rooms within the structure of the Jacobean house is one of the most notable features of the house.
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For further information on various aspects of the history of Lilford Hall, please Click here for a brief architectural history of Lilford Hall, Click here for a full architectural history of Lilford Hall, Click here for a history of the Park at Lilford, Click here for a history of Parish and Manor of Lilford, and Click here for a history of The Walled Garden.
Click here for more historical photographs of Lilford Hall.
