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Thorpe Hall (Peterborough)

Buildings and structures in PeterboroughCountry houses in CambridgeshireGrade I listed buildings in CambridgeshireGrade I listed buildings in PeterboroughGrade I listed houses
Houses completed in 1656Use British English from February 2023
Thorpe Hall geograph.org.uk 384907
Thorpe Hall geograph.org.uk 384907

Thorpe Hall at Longthorpe in the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, is a Grade I listed building, built by Peter Mills between 1653 and 1656, for the Lord Chief Justice, Oliver St John. The house is unusual in being one of the very few mansions built during the Commonwealth period. After a period as a hospital, it is currently used as a Sue Ryder Care hospice. While parliamentary soldiers were in Peterborough in 1643 during the civil war, they ransacked the cathedral. Parliament disposed of Church property to raise money for the army and navy and the parliamentarian Oliver St John bought the lease to the manor of Longthorpe and built Thorpe Hall. In 1654 it was described by the author John Evelyn as "a stately place...built out of the ruins of the Bishop's Palace and cloisters."A symmetrical composition in ashlar, rusticated quoins, with square, groups of rusticated chimney shafts; the north and south elevations are identical, three dormers, casements under pediments, the centre one semi-circular. A stone slate roof overhangs on modillions. There are seven windows, with plain stone surrounds to top and ground floors. The porch with Tuscan columns supports a balcony. The balcony window on the first floor has a segmental pediment and shouldered architrave. The windows of the second and sixth bays have pediments, while the others have frieze and moulded cornice. A band marks first-floor height. There is a flight of eight steps with balustrade supporting two urns. The interior is complete, except for library or Great Parlour panelling now at Leeds Castle. There may have been two designers, Mills and John Stone, a French-trained son of Nicholas Stone. Principal rooms have richly decorated fireplaces and plaster ceilings by Peter Mills. The principal staircase has heavily carved foliated open panels to broad balustrade. A stone screen on the landing was added in 1850 by Francis Ruddle of Peterborough.Thorpe Hall is situated in a Grade II listed garden that is open to members of the public throughout the year. The curved walls forming the entrance courtyard, gatepiers and entrance gates, former stables to the right, and a shouldered stone architrave gateway flanked by vertically halved pilasters with volutes are also Grade I listed buildings. The late nineteenth century lodge, octagonal summerhouse in red brick with fish scale slate roof, and a free-standing archway resembling a Venetian window in design are Grade II listed buildings. A maternity hospital from 1943 to 1970, it was transferred to the National Health Service in 1948, coming under No. 12 Group (Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals Management Committee) of the East Anglian Regional Hospital Board. In 1986 it was acquired by the Sue Ryder Foundation and is currently in use as a hospice.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Thorpe Hall (Peterborough) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Thorpe Hall (Peterborough)
Thorpe Road, Peterborough South Bretton

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N 52.572638888889 ° E -0.27430555555556 °
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Thorpe Road
PE3 6LR Peterborough, South Bretton
England, United Kingdom
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Thorpe Hall geograph.org.uk 384907
Thorpe Hall geograph.org.uk 384907
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Longthorpe

Longthorpe is an area of the city of Peterborough, in the unparished area of Peterborough, in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. Located two miles (3.2 km) west from the city centre, the area covers 1,390 acres (560 hectares). For electoral purposes it forms part of Peterborough West ward. A 1st century Roman fort was established at Longthorpe, it may have been as early as around AD 44–48 but was certainly present by 61–62. The first phase covered 27 acres (11 ha), this was later replaced by another fort measuring 11 acres (4.5 ha).The ecclesiastical parish was formed in 1850 from the parish of Saint John the Baptist. The church of Saint Botolph is a plain building of coarse rubble, dating from the 13th century, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and a western bell cote, containing one bell. In the chancel is a piscina and aumbry, two other brackets and a piscina are in the south aisle and two brackets in the north aisle. The church was restored in 1869 and will seat about 200 persons. The register dates from the year 1837; the earlier register is included in that of St. John the Baptist, Peterborough. Objections to controversial works were raised by the Victorian Society, Historic England and the Twentieth Century Society in 2017.Oliver St John, a Lord Chief Justice who supported Parliament in the civil war, bought the lease of the manor of Longthorpe and built Thorpe Hall. In 1654 it was described by the author John Evelyn as "a stately place...built out of the ruins of the Bishop's Palace and cloisters." It is a Grade I listed building, situated in a Grade II listed garden open to members of the public throughout the year. Longthorpe Tower, a 14th-century, three-storey tower and fortified manor house in the care of English Heritage, is also situated here. A Grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument protected by law, it contains the finest and most complete set of domestic paintings of the period in northern Europe. Exhibitions are held there from time to time by local artists. Longthorpe contains a number of other listed buildings, including the old Manor House and the Holy (or St. Cloud's) Well to south-east of the Manor House.Longthorpe Primary School is located in the village on Bradwell Road; secondary pupils attend nearby Jack Hunt School in Netherton.

West Town, Peterborough
West Town, Peterborough

West Town is residential area of the city of Peterborough, in the unparished area of Peterborough, in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. For electoral purposes it forms part of Peterborough West ward. The Memorial Hospital, built by public subscription and donation on Midland Road in 1928, was transferred to the National Health Service in 1948, coming under No. 12 Group (Peterborough and Stamford) Hospital Management Committee of the East Anglian Regional Hospital Board. The neo-Georgian hospital (latterly the Memorial Wing) was enlarged by the massive addition of Peterborough District Hospital, built in continuous phases between 1960 and 1968.In 2010, as part of the £300 million Greater Peterborough health investment plan, the city's two hospitals transferred to a single site on the grounds of the former Edith Cavell Hospital in Westwood. The 22 acre (8.9 ha) site, now known as the Hospital Quarter, is currently proposed for redevelopment.The Dairy Crest depot, formerly the co-operative Anglia Dairies, is also based on Midland Road. West Town County Primary opened on Williamson Avenue in 1909, originally an Infant then Junior Mixed and Infant school; secondary pupils attend nearby Jack Hunt School in Netherton. West Town School relocated to new premises on the site of the former Memorial Hospital in 2016. The hospital's facade was retained as a lasting memorial to those of the city and the 6th Northamptonshire Regiment who died in the first world war. The stone porch has a plain frieze and moulded cornice supported on paired doric columns; an inscription above the doors to the entrance lobby reads IN REMEMBRANCE 1914–1918.