Narford Hall
TypeCountry house
LocationNarford, Norfolk
Coordinates52°41′32″N 0°36′45″E / 52.692317°N 0.612592°E / 52.692317; 0.612592
Built1690 to c. 1704
Architectural style(s)Neoclassical
Palladian
Governing bodyPrivately owned
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameNarford Hall
Designated18 March 1983
Reference no.1076940
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameNarford Hall Park and Gardens
Designated18 September 1987
Reference no.1000337
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameClock Tower, Orangery and Connecting Walls
Designated23 October 1985
Reference no.1169686
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameSundial
Designated23 October 1985
Reference no.1077307
Kaliforniyka/Narford Hall is located in Norfolk
Kaliforniyka/Narford Hall
Location of Narford Hall in Norfolk

Narford Hall is an English country house in Narford, Norfolk. The house was built in the late 17th- and early 18th-century for Andrew Fountaine, a politician and art collector, and improved by his son Sir Andrew Fontaine.[1][2]

It was built in carrstone and ashlar by . The house was greatly enlarged in about 1830, and has a ...

Narford Hall garden design by Edmund Prideaux (1693–1745)

The construction of Narford Hall was begun in June 1702 by Sir Andrew Fountaine, who settled in Norfolk in 1690. Sir Andrew died in 1706 and construction was completed under the direction of his son, another Andrew. Knighted in 1699, he was Vice-Chamberlain to the Prince of Wales and successor to Isaac Newton at the Royal Mint. As a well-established and well-connected collector of works of art, the formal gardens he laid out around the house in the early C18, depicted on a plan by Colen Campbell in 1725 and a series of drawings by Edmund Prideaux of the same period, appear to have been at the forefront of fashion. The geometric layout included groves, walks, and avenues decorated with classical details, the main south avenue extending out of the gardens for c 1.75km to a terminal classical arch. Sir Andrew Fountaine died in 1758 and the formal landscape was gradually deformalised over the course of the C18. By 1789 the Hall was surrounded by a small park which replaced the formal pleasure grounds although the northern basin and canal and the southern avenue were retained. In c 1830 another Andrew Fountaine made substantial enlargements to the Hall and added a stable courtyard to the north-east. In the same decade James Grigor visited the site, noting in his Eastern Arboretum (1841) the range of tree species surviving from the formal landscape and recording that the lake, 'already of great extent' was 'now being enlarged'. By 1891 (OS) the lake, known as Narford Lake, covered c 18ha and the park had been extended to the west. The Fountaine family continued to live at Narford into the C20 and the park remained heavily treed until at least 1946. Since that time parts have been put under the plough and some trees have been lost. The site remains (1999) in private ownership.

References

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  1. ^ "The fascinating story of Narford Hall". KL Magazine. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  2. ^ Echlin, Alex (2017). "Like father like son: The architectural patronage of Andrew Fountaine Sr" (PDF). The Georgian Group Journal. XXV: 37–52. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
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Category:1616 establishments in England Category:Country houses in Norfolk Category:Grade I listed buildings in Norfolk Category:Grade I listed houses Category:Grade I listed museum buildings Category:Grade II listed parks and gardens in Norfolk Category:Historic house museums in Norfolk Category:National Trust properties in Norfolk