Record Details

NHER Number:3887
Type of record:Building
Name:High House, West Acre (Westacre Hall)

Summary

This grand abode was built prior to 1756 on the side of an older mansion. It has a gault-brick façade, castellations and various Classical features. The south front has a five bay centre and two projecting wings, with three-bay projecting wings to the east and west being set further back. At the rear of the property there are thirteen bays, including several that were added in 1829 to the designs of Donthorn. Inside, the principal room is the upstairs dining room. This magnificent roomhas bold plasterwork including the head of Medusa along with a fake Greek inscription as the ceiling centre piece. Other internal features of note include an early staircase and several fine fireplaces. Aerial photographs of the mansion show the cropmarks of formal gardens and dewponds. The stable court, formerly linked to the house, is a remarkable neo classical courtyard designed by Donthorn and noted for its stripped bare use of classical orders and the very clever use of different planes to articulate the building. The courtyard has towers at each of its corners.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 7929 1813
Map Sheet:TF71NE
Parish:WESTACRE, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

October 1951. Listed Grade I.
Country house. Mid-C18, visited by Mrs Lybbe Powys in 1756. Refaced at south with internal alterations by W.J. Donthorn, architect, c.1829 for Anthony Hamond, the outcome of ambitious Greek Revival schemes to re-face the whole house from 1823. High quality Holkham estate gault brick, stucco dressings, pantiled roofs. Greek Revival centre, Palladian north ranges. 2 storey south front arranged as basement with piano nobile, 3 storey lateral north wings. U plan centre has 5 central bays, single bay returned wings, possibly on site of C17 manor house on the Spelman family. Centre has 2 ground floor windows central piano nobile tripartite windows, flanking single windows, all sashes with glazing bars. Abstract brick pilaster articulation between piano nobile openings have Greek Doric capitals and entablature in stucco. Central porch with angle pilasters, flat parapet roof, 6 panel raised and fielded door with pilastered architrave surround. Returned wings have single ground floor windows, tripartite piano nobile windows with pilaster divisions and margin lights, all sashes with glazing bars under flat rubbed brick arches. All these details by Donthorn replaced mid-C18 Venetian windows and external staircase with piano nobile Gibbs surround door recorded on print of 1820. First floor plat-band and mid C18 castelled parapet carried round entire house. East and west returns of centre have one large c.1829 sash window lighting internal piano nobile gallery, 2 plate glass sashes and one blocked painted sash. U plan hipped roof. On line of rear pile to north 2 mid C18 lateral 3 storey 3 bay wings, all sashes with glazing bars, central Gibbs surround window. Battlemented parapets and double pile hipped roofs. 13 bay north range. 3 bay basement and piano nobile centre with 3 large sashes with glazing bars, hipped roof. 2 2-storey link wings, hipped roof. 3-storey end wings, all with sashes with glazing bars.
Interior: mid C18 piano nobile villa-like arrangement of south front re-worked by Donthorn with internal staircase from ground floor entrance to first floor gallery. 4 bay pilastered staircase with segmental coffered ceiling, with landing screen of 3 Delos Ionic columns in antis with 2 antae, coat of arms with scroll work above. Piano nobile gallery of 5 cubes of 18 feet cubed, described in 1756, re-cast as extremely abstract Greek Revival trabiated interior. Internal north wall elevation has 2 Delos Ionic half columns with flanking piers on axis with staircase screen, 2 fireplace bays framed with abstract pilaster strips, fireplaces replaced C20. East and west windows framed by Delos Ionic antae. Compartment ceiling, fine mahogony doors. Wings to south have mid C18 rooms at north, c.1829 pilastered compart- ment ceiling rooms to south. Entire piano nobile floored with hexagonal Ketton stone flags, supported on ground floor vaults. On axis with staircase central 3 bay Dining Room, fine mid C18 interior described in 1756. Pulvinated and coved Rococo frieze and central rose with head of Medusa in wreath and Greek lettering "Solonos". Mid C18 marble fireplace with lugged angles. East and west wings have mid C18 staircases.
See (S1), (S2) and (S3)
H. White (NLA) 18 December 2008

High House is said to stand on the site of Medieval manor house, certainly on site of half- H- shaped Jacobean mansion owned by the Spelman family. The present building was constructed soon before 1756, still with two slightly projecting wings on the south front. From the front door a striaght and steep marble staircase with one break under a segemental vault, leading to the piano noble consisting of a long gallery ornamented with Ionic pilasters and columns at the end. The ceiling is painted blue. Behind, the dining room with a head of Solon in ceiling, and two other rooms. Floors of all these rooms consits of hexagonal Ketton stone flags. Ground floor all arch-vaulted storerooms. In 1829 two three-bay three storeyed wings were added to the east and the exterior was clad in yellow brick with battlements, Doric pillasters and pillars added to the façade (but Pevsner says window surrounds are original). The doors in the gallery ends must date from this period- two at each end, one leading to the new wingss, the other is false. Pevsner is wrong in attributing the new work to Donthorne as his plan for the house is entirely different, like a classical temple; but the stables to the east may well be his as they resemble the illustrations, with pillastered corner towers, arch to the east, exterior in yellow brick, interior in red. Blank screen wall connects house (formerly a link block behind, demolished in 1950's). Good early lift in staircase of west wing.

E Rose (NLA) 20 June 1981
Updated H. White (NLA), 18 December 2008.

Stable court and curtain wall attached at east of High House.
Stable court and curtain wall attached to east of High House (q.v.). C.1829 by W.J. Donthorn, architect, for Anthony Hamond. Holkham gault brick facades of high quality detail, red brick interior to court, slated roofs. Rectangular single storey court with 4 2-storey flat roofed angle towers, screen wall to west connecting with High House. Highly abstract Greek Revival style with primitivist Soanic references. Tripartite east range has central rubbed brick arched barrel vaulted carriage entrance. Projecting wooden cornice and pediment with central rubbed brick arch oculus. Slightly recessed wings continue the eaves level string course and parapet. South front has Soanic porch with 2 central and 2 angle Greek Doric antae, entablature, 2 projecting cornices, attic with round headed finials. Antae repeated in interior of porch. Projecting bay on north side with slit windows. Each angle has 2 storey towers, at south-east grooms' dormitory, at south-west Norman servants', forth-west brewery, north-east hay loft. Ground floor has recessed centre with 3 windows divided by brick antae supporting frieze and entablature on same line as that of lateral, ranges. First floor has single narrow pilastered opening. Slightly projecting angle antae have upper level slit with orthodox position above of capital omitted. Stucco cornice, frieze and projecting wooden eaves, broken forward over angles, recessed in centre. Flat roofs.
See (S1)
H. White (NLA), 18 December 2008.

NCC Inventory of parks gives a different history of the house, stating that the original was built in 1624 by Sir Edward Barkham, the present house dates from 1726-56, and that the wings were added by the Hammonds 1776-1800 and that Donthorne only carried out other alterations. Information believed to be from T. Williamson.
See (S4).
E Rose (NLA), 7 December 1995.

For cropmarks of formal gardens and dew pond see NAU air photographs and entry for park (NHER 31636)
E. Rose (NAU) 15 November 1990.

22 July 1993. NLA aerial photography.
House and garden visible.
M. Brennand (NLA), 8 February 2001.

December 1996. Earthwork Survey.
Survey of earthworks in land to north of High House.
See report (S9) for further details and copy of plan (S10). This site was included in (S11) and the survey is also noted in (S12).
The features themselves are recorded under NHER 3888, NHER 29824 and NHER 31636.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 November 2015.

7 December 2010 & 10 February 2011
Meetings on site to discuss alterations with English Heritage and West Norfolk district council. The stable court by Donthorn is where the principal changes are to be carried out.
See Listed Building consent application (S5) and structural inspection report (S6).
S. Heywood (HES), 10 February 2011.

June 2011. Planning Application.
Alterations to the stable block including roofing over the courtyard and erection of a replacement link building to the main house, and alterations to the fenestration of the East wing of the main house. Also erection of new barn for ancillary storage
See (S7).
Z. Dack (HES), 5 July 2011.

September 2011. Photographic Survey.
Survey of stable block.
See report (S8) and accompanying photographs (on CD).
A. Yardy (HES), 13 December 2011. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 17 September 2019.

Monument Types

  • MANOR (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • GARDEN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • GREAT HOUSE (18th Century to 21st Century - 1756 AD to 2100 AD)
  • COACH HOUSE (19th Century to 21st Century - 1829 AD to 2100 AD)
  • STABLE (19th Century to 21st Century - 1829 AD to 2100 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • Listed Building
  • Listed Building
  • SHINE

Sources and further reading

---Aerial Photograph: TF7918 A-D,K-P,V,W,X-AA; TF7917 A-C.
---Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1993. TF 7918AC, AD.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 2008. These family homes are not just bricks and motar. 12 September.
---Monograph: Pevsner, N and Wilson, W. 1999. Norfolk 2: North-West and South. The Buildings of England. 2nd Edition. p 761.
---Unpublished Document: Roderick O'Donnell. 2007, 2010. High House, West Acre. 1 July 2007 amended 6 December 2010.
---Illustration: David Chipperfield Architects. 2011. High House, West Acre. Proposals for stable block.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Designation: Listed Building Consent.
<S2>Monograph: 1972. Catalogue of the Drawings Collection, Royal Institute of British Architects C-F..
<S3>Article in Serial: O'Donnell, R.. 1978. "W.J. Donthorn (1799-1859) : architecture with great hardness and decision in the edges" :Architectural History'.. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Vol 9B,xxi, pp 83-94.
<S4>Unpublished Document: Norfolk County Council. [unknown]. Inventory of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Norfolk..
<S5>Unpublished Contractor Report: Carmody Groarke. 2010. High House, West Acre. Listed Building Consent application for Internal Alterations. Proposal Summary and Building Appraisal. Carmody Groarke.
<S6>Unpublished Report: Batty, P. 2010. High House, West Acre, Norfolk. Structural Inspection Report.
<S7>Unpublished Document: 2011. Planning Application.
<S8>Unpublished Report: Wilson Compton Associates. 2011. Stable Block at High House, West Acre, Norfolk: Photographic Survey. September.
<S9>Unpublished Report: Cushion, B. 1997. West Acre High House Park SMR 3887, 3888, 29824 & 31636. Earthwork Survey Report.
<S10>Illustration: Cushion, B. 1996. Plan of earthworks at West Acre SMR 3887, 3888, 29824 & 31636(part). Film. 1:1000.
<S11>Monograph: Cushion, B. and Davison, A. 2003. Earthworks of Norfolk. East Anglian Archaeology. No 104. p 228.
<S12>Article in Serial: Gurney, D. and Penn, K. (eds). 1998. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk 1997. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLIII Pt I pp 193-210. p 208.

Related records

52595Related to: High House Formal Gardens (Monument)
31636Related to: High House Park (Monument)

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