KINGSTON HUNDRED 



PETERSHAM 



door has a carved and fluted head, below which is 

 the inscription ' 1610 VIVA T REX.' The porticoes 

 in the angles formed by the north front with the 

 wings have single arches to the north, and two facing 

 inwards, and their back walls are plastered and 

 painted with landscapes. All around the three sides of 

 this front towards the court are oval niches with busts 

 of Roman emperors, &c., and two in the west wing 

 are of Charles I and Charles II. The 18th-century 

 bays in the ends of the wings have plain brick windows 

 with wood sashes, and the bays are not relieved with 

 string-courses like the main house. The walls of the 

 older portion are finished with a moulded cornice 

 with plain modillions running right round the front 

 and either wing until it meets the later work on the 

 east and west. The windows of the projecting stair- 

 hall are similar to those on the north front, while 

 those of the small added wing are like those on the 

 south front. In the old wings are bay windows, 

 which appear to be as old as the wings themselves, but 

 are modernized in the lower part ; the windows in 

 them have plain Portland stone jambs and wooden 

 sashes. The bays stop at the level of the second floor 

 with a balustraded parapet, the second-floor windows 

 overlooking them having round-headed middle lights 

 and square side lights under a pediment ; they are 

 evidently later than the walls in which they are set. 

 The eaves cornice of all the later work is much more 

 elaborate than the other, being enriched by egg-and- 

 dart ornament and rosettes on the soffit. 



The west face agrees with the south face in its 

 southern half ; at the north end of the south-west 

 wing is a doorway admitting to the library staircase. 

 The older wing on the north half of this front has a 

 very large chimney-stack, which serves the kitchen 

 fireplace and those over it. The roofs of the house 

 are covered with slates. The main entrance in the 

 middle of the north front opens directly into the 

 north-west corner of the ' Marble Hall,' a fine room 

 42 ft. by 2 1 ft. with a black and white marble floor 

 and a slightly raised platform at the east end, 

 which is of wood parquetry. It is lighted by 

 three north windows and has a fireplace of black 

 marble with gilded swags in the lintel, and a 

 white marble shelf on ogee brackets. The walls 

 are panelled in wood painted green and gold, 

 and there are doorways on the south to the dining- 

 room and the passage next to the 'green drawing 

 room,' and on the west to the long passage traversing 

 the west half of the house, while an archway in the 

 east wall gives access to the main staircase. The 

 hall, originally of one story, was opened in the 1 8th 

 century to the second floor, with a gallery running all 

 round at the old first-floor level. The newels of the 

 staircase are square with carved panels in their sides, 

 and heads carved as wicker baskets filled with fruit 

 and flowers, and the balustrades and wall panels are 

 divided into bays filled with trophies of arms. The 

 stair ascends from the ground to the second floor, the 

 doorways opening on to it having classical busts set 

 in broken pediments over them. 



The ground-floor room of the east wing is occupied 

 by the chapel, which is fitted with 18th-century wood 

 panelling and seats, and has an altar table at the north 

 end in the recess formed by the bay ; the lights of 

 the bay are, however, closed by the oak panelling, as 

 are the lower halves of the side windows. The 

 ceiling is plastered and has a wood cornice. The 



space west of the marble hall and north of the passage 

 to the west door is now occupied by offices, and the 

 north end of the west wing contains two apartments 

 lined with oak panelling which were formerly the still- 

 room and the housekeeper's room. The dining-room 

 is entered from the south-west corner of the marble 

 hall, the doorway being in the middle of its north 

 wall and fitted with a two-leaved door ; on either 

 side of it in the same wall are recesses matching 

 the doorway ; all with carved architraves. This wall 

 is very thick, consisting of a later wall built against an 

 earlier one. The room is lighted through the south 

 wall by two windows and a middle doorway opening 

 out on to the south terrace ; the fireplace in the east 

 wall is a square opening with moulded blue-veined 

 white marble jambs and lintel. The ceiling is plain 

 and has a moulded cornice with a laurel-leaf frieze. 

 The Red Room is a smaller apartment east of the 

 dining-room, from which it is entered. The fireplace 

 in its north wall is of a red marble. The ceiling is 

 plain with the laurel-leaf cornice. A door in the 

 north wall opens into a small stair-hall, formerly 

 called the Volary Room, between this room and the 

 marble hall. The Green Room is next, east of the 

 Red Room, and occupies the south end of the original 

 east wing. It is lighted by a bay window and has a 

 marble fireplace with an old fireback in its east walls 

 and is lined with white and gold raised panelling over 

 which are hung tapestries representing the Flight of 

 Pyrrhus and other subjects ; the ceiling is plain. To 

 the north of the room is a narrow passage with a 

 stair at its end. The later south-east small wing is 

 divided into two rooms ; the 'card room' is entered 

 from the Green Room ; it has a corner fireplace of 

 marble and is panelled in white and gold ; the ceiling 

 is coved and painted by Verrio. The other room, 

 north of the card room, is the china closet, filled with 

 valuable old china ; this also has a corner fireplace 

 and a painted ceiling. Next to it is a very small 

 staircase to the first floor, approached from the china 

 closet and from the narrow passage next the Green 

 Room which communicates with the marble 

 hall, &c. Lord Dysart's study is west of the dining- 

 room, and to the north of it is a small staircase. 

 Lord Dysart's bedroom (formerly the Duchess of 

 Lauderdale's bedroom) lies west of the study and 

 occupies the south end of the old west wing ; it is 

 lighted by a bay window, has a square fireplace of 

 black white-veined marble in its west wall, and on 

 the north side an alcove, the ceiling of which is painted 

 with allegorical figures, flowers, and festoons in an oval 

 panel in which also are the initials E.D.L. The 

 room is lined with brown and gold bolection moulded 

 panelling. Beyond is the Duchess of Lauderdale's 

 dressing-room. The later small west wing contains the 

 valet's room, lavatory, &c. The staircase in the 

 north end of this wing has a moulded oak handrail 

 and turned balusters. A doorway on the first floor 

 opens from this stair-hall into the library (over the 

 valet's room, &c.), which has an ornamental plastered 

 ceiling. It contains many valuable MSS, and books, 

 including no less than fourteen Caxtons. In the 

 same wing to the south is a smaller room through 

 which entrance may be gained into the long gallery 

 which fills the whole of the old west wing and is 

 some 73ft. 6 in. long with a bay window at each 

 end. The walls are panelled and divided into bays 

 by fluted pilasters with Ionic capitals ; the cornice 



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