Rufford Abbey and Ollerton Hall, Nottinghamshire: Alternative Interpretations

Abstract

In the previous volume of English Heritage Historical Review Richard Hewlings published 22 newly discovered architectural drawings of Rufford Abbey and Ollerton Hall in Nottinghamshire. These drawings were the remainder of a collection, of which another part had formed the basis of my article on the history of Rufford Abbey in an earlier volume of English Heritage Historical Review. The newly discovered drawings illustrate the two houses at only one period in that history, the period during which they were both owned by Sir George Savile, 8th Baronet. But they show internal arrangements and a principal (west) fac¸ade which appear to date from the 17th century; neither of these had been known at the time of writing my article. Mr Hewlings did not discuss the newly revealed evidence for the internal arrangements, and he concluded that the ornamental features of the west fac¸ade suggested a date in the 1630s. He thought that the drawings were surveys, not proposals, and speculated that they might have been intended for publication.

The present article considers the internal arrangements in more depth; it suggests a later date for the west fac¸ade; and it demonstrates that the drawings include proposals for changes to both houses and are therefore not just surveys.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the Nottinghamshire Archives Office and Nottingham Local Studies Library for permission to publish drawings and photographs, and I would once again like to thank the editor, Richard Hewlings, for his continued assistance.

Notes

1 Richard Hewlings, ‘Sir George Savile’s Architectural Drawings’, English Heritage Historical Review, 6, 2011, 80–109.

2 Nottinghamshire Archives Office (hereafter NAO), DD, SR 102, 202, 211 and 215.

3 Pete Smith, ‘Rufford Abbey and its Gardens in the 17th and 18th Centuries’, English Heritage Historical Review, 4, 2009, 122–53.

4 This stair was presumably constructed as part of the rebuilding of this fac¸ade after the fire of 1692 (Smith, op. cit., 137).

5 Jill Alibone, Anthony Salvin (1799–1881); Pioneer of Gothic Revival Architecture, Cambridge, 1987, 162.

6 The Brick Hall was so called because of its polished brick floor. This floor was supported by the medieval vault and columns of undercroft to the former refectory below it.

7 George Jack, The Great Houses of Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, 1881, 111.

8 The medieval vaults below the hall would have provided robust support for a stone screen.

9 Illustrated in Mark Girouard (ed.), ‘The Smythson Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects’, Architectural History, Vol. 5, II/14–16, 42–43 and 112–14.

10 It was at Rufford Abbey that Bess of Hardwick entertained Elizabeth, Countess of Lennox and her son Charles, and where the fateful love affair between her son, Charles Stuart, Earl of Lennox, and Bess’s daughter, Elizabeth Cavendish, occurred in 1574. Their marriage, which so angered Queen Elizabeth, would result in the birth of the Arbella Stuart (1575–1615) (David N Durant, Bess of Hardwick, London, 1977, 83–85).

11 Smith, op. cit., 135–37. Jonathan Challoner refers to the fire damaging an area 30 yards× 13 yards. Since the rooms on the east side are approximately 30 feet wide, this suggests the fire also partially damaged the rooms to the west.

12 Sir George Savile, 2nd Baronet, who only inherited the Rufford Abbey estate from the Earls of Shrewsbury in 1626, died the same year and was succeeded by his 14-year-old son William, 3rd Baronet, who did not come of age until 1633 (Roly Smith, Rufford , Past . . . & Present, Nottinghamshire County Council, 2000, 11).

13 Bridget Clarke, ‘William Taylor; New Discoveries’ , and John Harris, ‘William Taylor; Further Attributions’, Georgian Group Journal, VII, 1998, 1–11 and 12–18; Richard Hewlings, ‘Achitaphel’s Architect’, Georgian Group Journal, XVI, 2008, 3–4.

14 Illustrated in Oliver Hill and John Cornforth, English Country Houses; Caroline 1625–1685, London, 1966, 32, pl. 29.

15 It is not known when these tapestries were installed. They appear to be contemporary with panelling, but it is possible that they were inserted in the 19th or 20th centuries.

16 Smith, op. cit., 135–36.

17 Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840, New Haven and London, 2008, 851.

18 Smith, op. cit., 142–43.

19 NAO, DD, SR 202/23.

20 NAO, DD, SR 215/13/13.

21 There were three three-light windows with cusped tracery surviving from the late medieval period in the basement of the west front lighting the chapel.

22 NAO, DP 97/2/2. Illustrated in Hewlings, op. cit., fig. 18.

23 NAO, DP 97/2/1 Illustrated in Hewlings, op. cit., fig. 17.

24 NAO, DP 97/2/3, 4 and 5. Illustrated in Hewlings, op. cit., figs 1, 19 and 20.

25 The earlier part of Ollerton Hall was reputedly rebuilt in 1640–42, though in 1713 George Markham ‘ordered several tons of stone from a quarry on Wellow Green’, suggesting that this may have been the date of its construction. David J Bradbury, Ollerton Before the Colliery, Mansfield, 1985, 32 and 38.

26 Smith, op. cit., 131. Thanks to Richard Hewlings who drew my attention to this feature both at Rufford Abbey and Ollerton Hall.

27 I am indebted to Andrew Martindale for this observation.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pete Smith

Pete Smith is an independent architectural historian recently retired from English Heritage. He has published extensively on various aspects of the English country house and its garden.