A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



building has a low attic, almost hidden by a tall 

 parapet. 



The doonvay gives access to the south end of the 

 hall, which measures 53 ft. east to west by 32 ft. 

 north to south. The inner walls were cased at the 

 same time as the facade, and all medieval features, 

 including the screens, were removed. The timber 

 roof, however, remains above the flat plaster ceiling. 

 The fireplace is in the middle of the north wall. 

 In 1850 the walls were painted in imitation of marble 

 by an artist named Roos. Apart from its fine pro- 

 portions, the room has no striking architectur.il 

 features, and its general plainness is in strong contrast 

 to the elaborate decoration of the fa9ade. 



On the west side of the hall are two doorways, one 

 at either end. That on the south opens into the dining- 

 room, which occupies the site of the original kitchen 

 and buttery, and measures nearly 40 ft. east to west 

 by 22 ft. north to south. This room was magni- 

 ficently decorated by Lord George Germain in 1771 

 and 1772 : his crest appears above the doorway on the 

 inner side. The ceiling is ornamented with coloured 

 plaster reliefs, executed with great delicacy and repre- 

 senting patterns of fruit and flowers : festoons of 

 vine-leaves and bunches of grapes decorate the coved 

 cornice. The walls and window recesses have 

 white plaster reliefs of classical figures, foliage and 

 vases on a buff ground ; while long moulded panels 

 on the walls frame portraits. The general character 

 of the work, including the ornamentation of the fire- 

 place, is very like that of the brothers Adam ; but 

 the plaster-work is in much bolder relief than their 

 usual designs, and wa' long attributed to Italian 

 artists. An examination, however, of the household 

 books of Lord George's steward, Henry Gladwcll, 

 the results of which were published by the late Mr. 

 Stopford-SackviUe in 1915,* showed that the plaster- 

 work was designed by William Rhodes, the carving 

 by one FoxhaU, and the painting by one Hakewill, 

 and that workmen from London were employed in the 

 execution. 



North of the dining-room, a passage, on the pro- 

 bable site of the pantry and part of the old kitchen 

 offices, leads to the present kitchen and the south- 

 west wing. About half way down this passage on 

 the right hand is a wide opening to a hall in the 

 15th-century block, from which a wooden staircase 

 of rectangular plan, with elegant newels and balusters, 

 simple in design, ascends to the first-floor rooms of 

 this part of the house. This is of early 17th-century 

 character, contemporary with the chimney-pieces of 

 the rooms to which it leads. The rooms at the end 

 of the passage are entered from lobbies in and 

 adjoining the ground floor of the tower at this end of 

 the building, in the north-east corner of which is a 

 vice belonging to the 15th-century work. 



At the west end of the north side of the hall, a 

 doorway, cut obliquely in the wall, opens into the 

 ground floor of the 15th-century porch, which gives 

 access to the garden and to two rooms, one on cither 

 side. These contain no features of interest. The two 

 bedrooms, however, on the first floor of this block, 

 approached by the staircase which has been mentioned, 

 have good chimney-pieces of the beginning of the 

 17th century, and in the south wall of one of them .1 



• Allot. Archil. Soc. Rtpi, &• Papen, xxxii, yi-gi. 



blocked window opening has been uncovered, with 

 a cusped head and hollow chamfer, which was 

 formerly one of the outer windows of the hall. 



The second doorway on the north side of the hall 

 at the east end, opens to the foot of the grand stair- 

 case which leads to the great chamber on the first 

 floor at the east end of the hall. This staircase, 

 rectangular in plan, was added by Sir John Germain, 

 and probably took the place of an earlier stair. It has 

 a wrought-iron baluster, similar to the fine ironwork 

 of the outer gates and railings, which may have been 

 designed by Tijou. The walls are painted, in the 

 sumptuous but rather tasteless fashion of the period, 

 with representations of Olympus and Hades by 

 Lanscroon, a Dutch disciple of Verrio. 



Opposite the foot of the stair, a doorway leads into 

 the cellar beneath the great chamber, which is also 

 entered by two doorways in the east wall of the hall. 

 This, structurally unaltered since the 14th century, 

 measures internally 45 ft. north to south by 20 ft. 

 east to west, and is divided by three octagonal pillars 

 on the centre of the longer axis into eight bays of 

 vaulting with chamfered ribs. The work, like much 

 local work of the period, is plain, and, as has been 

 noted above, is probably some years earlier than the 

 fortification of the house by Simon de Drayton in 

 1328. The capitals and bases of the pillars have 

 convex mouldings. The pair of bays at the north 

 end project beyond the north wall of the hall, and 

 so communicate directly, as already noticed, with the 

 grand staircase. In the north part of the west wall is 

 a two-light window of the 15th century, now opening 

 into an adjoining room. On this side also there is a 

 doorway into the colonnade on the east side of the 

 courtyard, which communicates with the rooms in the 

 south-east wing. There are two doorways in the east 

 wall, the southern one of which leads into the ground 

 floor room of the small building added to this corner 

 of the house in the 15th century. 



From the north-east bay of the cellar a stair descends 

 to the vaulted basement which occupies the whole 

 length of the Elizabethan north-east wing. This has a 

 middle row of pillars, dividing it into ribbed compart- 

 ments, the details of which have been modelled 

 upon those of the medieval cellar. The bosses are 

 carved with the arms of Northamptonshire families. 

 From the south-east bay, in which is the doorway from 

 the grand staircase, a short flight of steps leads to a 

 lobby, from which two steps ascend eastward to 

 the passage which forms the vestibule of the Eliza- 

 bethan wing. At the farther end of this passage 

 is the doorway to the east garden, and on the 

 right hand at this end, in the tower, is the geo- 

 metrical stair to the upper floors on the east side of„ 

 the house. 



The geometrical staircase, a wooden spiral without 

 supports, was part of the additions made by Sir 

 John Germain, and gives access to the whole of the 

 upper part of the east range, including the great 

 cliamber, which is entered by a doorway directly 

 opposite the doorway from the head of the grand 

 staircase. This room, as has been said, occupies tiie 

 site of the medieval solar, which corresponded in 

 dimensions to tiie cellar below, but was enlarged 

 northward by Sir John Germain. It is now called the 

 King's dining-chamber, a name given to the solar after 

 the visit of James 1 to Drayton in 1605. It is liglitcd 



234 



