Hackthorn Hall

www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list

A late 18th-century house and pleasure grounds, set within a late 18th-century park of earlier origins.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Hackthorn occupies a rural setting c 8km to the north of Lincoln, on the east side of the A15 Ermine Street and on the western edge of the estate village of Hackthorn. The c 44ha site is bounded to the south by a minor country road and to the west and north by farmland. The Hall lies on the north side of a shallow valley, through which a stream runs from west to east, enlarged below the Hall to form a sinuous lake. Dense boundary plantations exclude any views into the site.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The main approach to Hackthorn Hall is from the south-west corner of the park, beside a small, early C19, single-storey painted limestone lodge cottage (listed grade II) standing c 600m south-west of the Hall. The partly tree-lined drive curves north-east up through the park to arrive at the gravel forecourt below the north front. This approach appears to be contemporary with the building of the late C18 house, being shown for the first time on the 1824 OS map. A second drive enters from the village, pasing the site of the old hall on the eastern boundary c 150m east of the present Hall. It runs north-west up past the church to the late C18 stable block on the east side of the Hall.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

Hackthorn Hall (listed grade I) is a large country house built of ashlar under a hipped slate roof, in the Neoclassical style. It has two storeys with attics and a tall semicircular porch facing north. The house was built in the 1790s to replace the old hall which stood c 150m further to the east, the remnants of which survive as a stable yard and farm buildings. In c 1840 a lower, two-storey service wing was added on the east side of the Hall.

The stable block and carriage house (listed grade II) stands beside the east wing of the Hall and was erected in the 1840s. It is built of yellow brick with a coursed square limestone wall along the south-east where it forms the churchyard wall. The church of St Michael (listed grade II*) stands beside the stable block and, although of C12 origins, was largely rebuilt by Charles Mainwaring, the lay rector of Hackthorn, for Weston Cracroft-Amcotts in the 1840s. There are several listed monuments in the churchyard which looks south over the lake and park beyond.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

The gardens lie on the south and west fronts of the Hall. A small sunken flagstone terrace below the west front, enclosed by a low stone wall, leads onto a lawn, recently (2001) planted as a formal parterre, beside a short hornbeam avenue running from the south-west corner of the terrace west for c 50m to the metal railings which divide the gardens from the park. On the north side of the lawn is a rustic early C20 summerhouse.

A long gravel terrace below the south front is broken in the centre by steps in a grass bank which leads down to a large lawn with central sundial. A second grass bank leads to a further lawn running down to the north bank of the stone-edged lake. On the east side of the south lawn, below the east wing, is a small sunk garden planted with iris rills and roses. A path on the south side of the sunk garden runs east along the bank of the lake and passes a long herbaceous border planted below the churchyard wall and the early C20 wooden boathouse. The path then enters ornamental woodland which forms the boundary of the garden to the east of the churchyard. The early C19 Garden Cottage (listed grade II), built in part from the fabric of the old hall, is located within the woodland, c 150m to the east of the Hall.

Beyond the entrance courtyard below the north front is a pleasure-ground woodland running north and north-east to the boundaries of the site. Many large trees, including beech, survive, underplanted with yew and holly and through these winds the Lady Walk which links the Hall to the walled kitchen garden situated in the north-east corner of the site. It was laid out in the early C19 (OS 1824).

PARK

The Hall stands at the eastern end of the park, which is retained under grass and is well scattered with trees. These represent a variety of ages with the main mature species being oak, beech, lime, and chestnut. Much of the elm was lost in the 1970s but there has been extensive replanting of replacement species. The undulating ground falls to the lake south of the Hall and rises again beyond it to the Roman settlement (scheduled ancient monument) which survives as visible earthwork remains in the grass. The lake existed in 1779 (Armstrong) but may have been widened and edged with stone at the end of the C18 when the new hall was erected. The park is enclosed by dense perimeter plantations and remnants of a late C18 wall surrounding the park survive on the north boundary. Originally slightly smaller, the park was extended to its present size when the new hall was built in the 1790s (Armstrong, 1779; OS 1824).

KITCHEN GARDEN

The walled kitchen garden lies c 200m to the north-east of the Hall, on the north side of the buildings associated with the old hall. High red-brick walls enclose the garden on three sides, the south side being open. The ground, which slopes to the south, is still used for the production of fruit and vegetables and retains a mix of C19 and C20 glasshouses along the north wall. The C19 vine house still contains a growing vine said to be 129 years old (estate staff pers comm, 2001). The walled garden was laid out when the new hall was built at the end of the C18.

REFERENCES

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire (1900)

H Thorold and J Yates, Lincolnshire A Shell Guide (1965), p 71

W Cracroft-Amcotts, St Michael's Church, Hackthorn, guidebook, (1967)

N Pevsner et al, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (2nd edition 1989), pp 354-5

T R Leach and R Pacey, Lost Lincolnshire Country Houses 2, (1992), p 65

H Thorold, Lincolnshire Houses (1999), pp 167-8

Maps

M Thorndike, An accurate map of the lordship of Hackthorn and Hannah, 1722 (private collection)

Capt A Armstrong, Map of the County of Lincolnshire, 1779 (Lincolnshire Archives)

Map accompanying sale particulars of parts of the estate, 1913 (2BD 7/75), (Lincolnshire Archives)

OS 1" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1824

OS 6" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1907

Illustrations

E Cracroft, watercolour, 1792 (private collection)

Description written: July 2001

Amended: April 2002

Edited: May 2002