Blickling Hall

Details

TG 12 NE BLICKLING

4/1 Blickling Hall 19-1-52

GV I

Country house. Built c.1619-27 for Sir Henry Hobart, Lord Chief Justice, to the designs of the surveyor Robert Lyminge. Remodelling 1765-85 by Thomas and William Ivory of Norwich. Red brick with stone and stucco dressings; roofs plain tiled and pantiled with lead domes to corner turrets. 2½, 3 and 4 storeys, originally a double- courtyard plan, entered from the south and open to the north. South front of seven bays, the outer bays occupied by square corner turrets with ogee lead-covered domes. Bays 2, 4 and 6 are three storeys high with shaped gables to attics and canted 2-storey bay windows with pierced parapets. Strapwork pediments to upper windows. Windows generally ovolo-moulded mullion and transom with leaded glazing and iron casements. Two transoms to first floor windows, lighting the principal rooms; windows set slightly advanced and with embellished heads of strapwork, balustrading or pediments. Frieze band with triglyphs and guttae above ground floor window heads. Central entrance approached via a stone bridge over the former moat: pierced stone parapet with square piers surmounted by Hobart bulls supporting shields. Two brick arches with stone dressings below. Oak entrance screen with raised and fielded panels, six to the doors and six in the screen panels. Three lintol panels above dated 1620. Semicircular fanlight with pierced wood and iron screen. Doorway flanked by two Doric columns supporting frieze of bulls' heads, central keystone with figure carving. Spandrels carved with female figures holding wreaths. Entablature with heraldry above. Central first floor window of 12 lights flanked by Ionic pilasters with blocking; figures of Justice and Truth on balustrade above. Moulded coping to parapet and gables with figures on keyblocks at gable peaks. Central clock tower a reconstruction by John Adey Repton c.1830: stuccoed and colourwashed. Lower stage has pedimented windows between pilasters with block decoration supporting a decorated frieze; clock stage has tapering Ionic pilasters and strapwork embellishment to clock face and window openings. Octagonal opensided lantern with lead covered ogee dome and finial with weather vane. Two large symmetrically-placed chimney stacks each with 8 octagonal shafts with star tops and moulded bases. At south-east and south-west corners, C19 arcaded screens link to service ranges (q.v.). East facade has 9 bays between corner turrets; rainwater heads dated 1620. Projecting bay windows in bays 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, canted in bays 1, 3 and 5. Stone ovolo-moulded mullion and transom windows with leaded glazing; some iron lattice frames. Above the bays, shaped attic gables with 3-light windows. Continuous band above ground floor window heads decorated with triglyphs. Corner turrets have pedimented and embellished doorways with semi- circular-arched heads, those on the east front have blocked pilasters and entablatures with arms. Eaves parapet with stone coping; gable peaks have keyblocks and figure finials. North front remodelled by William Ivory c.1779: the corner turrets and the left-hand shaped gable survive from the original build. Centre three bays slightly advanced with mullion and transom windows projecting from wall face under pediments. Frieze of triglyphs continues above ground floor window heads. Stone eaves cornice with balustrade. Flanking bays with shaped gables have 2-storey square projections with large 5-light windows and pierced stone parapets; two transoms to first floor windows as elsewhere. West facade dated 1769, rebuilt by Thomas and William Ivory. 13 bays, 1 and 13 being the square corner turrets. Bays 4, 7, 10 have shaped gables to attic storey with eaves parapet, coping and finials as on east facade. Windows generally ovolo-moulded 2 and 3 light casements with leaded glazing, some first floor windows reglazed. Transoms and pediments to first floor windows. All windows set slightly forward of wall face. The centre entrance bay is embellished: the first floor window has a strapwork pediment, below the window a panel commemorating the bequest of Mary Ann, Countess of Buckinghamshire, towards the erection of the facade, 1769. Attic window on scrolled base with finials. Interior: very fine and elaborate interiors, fully described in the National Trust guide book. Original staircase extended and reconstructed 1767 by Thomas Ivory in the new position: elaborately-carved newels with figure-finials on pedestals; square, tapering balusters with Ionic caps and arcading below handrail; strapwork between baluster feet. Building in care of the National Trust. (Pevsner The Buildings of England - North-east Norfolk and Norwich 1962, Christopher Hussey Country Life June 7, 21, 28 1930, Blickling Hall The National Trust 1985.)

Listing NGR: TG1789428689

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

228660

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Blickling Hall, (1985)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North East Norfolk and Norwich, (1962)
Country Life in 7 June, (1930), 21 28

Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 29 Norfolk,

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry