Site of 17th century country house and landscape park, Stansted Hall (EHER 4557)

The site of the demolished Stansted Hall, a 17th century country house situated in a park which covers approximately 80 hectares.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Site of hall. Old Hall demolished about 1812. <1> Stansted Hall was built in the time of Sir Thomas Middleton who purchased the estate in 1615. It was abandoned and later demolished, excepting one of the towers, in the early 19th century. There is nothing to be seen 'now', except slightly uneven ground, in a pasture field, probably indicating buried foundations. <2> <3> The site of the demolished Stansted Hall, a 17th century country house situated in a park which covers approximately 80 hectares. In 1615 Sir Thomas Middleton, Lord Mayor of London, bought Stansted park and built Stansted Hall, where the family lived until 1715. The estate was then sold to Thomas Heath, a captain in the East India Company. His grandson (also Thomas) subsequently consulted Humphry Repton (1752 -1818, a great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century) in December 1790 with regard to improving the park and house. It appears his designs were never carried out, although some of his suggestions were taken on board as considerable improvements to the planting were made in circa 1795, and in 1867 the road was diverted to enhance views of approach to the house. After William Heath's death in 1797 the property passed to his brother Bailey. Bailey died in circa 1800 and the property was acquired by Ebenezer Fuller Maitland. His wife did not like the house and it was subsequently deserted and then demolished in circa 1812, except for one of the towers which survived throughout the 19th century. The Fuller Maitlands had a new house built to the north in 1875. The park is on the south-east edge of the town of Stansted Mountfitchet and now covers about 80 hectares. The southern part, where the hall is situated, is level but the land falls away gently to the north and north-west, with views over the valley of the Stansted Brook and the town (including the motte and bailey castle). It is bounded to the south and west by the Stansted Mountfitchet to Burton End road, and to the east it is truncated by the deep cutting of the M11 motorway. The north boundary has no distinguishing features, though it is formerly extended to the Bishops Stortford to Cambridge railway line. The south-east entrance from the Stansted Mountfitchet to Burton End road has been considerably altered by the M11 and its associated bridge work. A new access on a curved embankment joins the old drive (lined with horse chestnuts on the north) near the stable block. No lodge survives. The north-west entrance, just south-east of Stansted Mountfitchet railway station passes through an arched gatehouse with wrought iron gates, and a small lodge on its south side. Both are in red brick with slate roofs, of late 19th century appearance. Before entering the open parkland, the first part of the drive is a hollow way, with cedars planted on the north side. There are the remains of a park post and wire fence on the south side of the drive. A little further south, the old Stansted Mountfitchet to Burton End road survives as a public footpath, lined on each side with relics of hedge and mature hedgerow trees, possibly retained as a parkland drive or a private route from the rectory to St Mary’s Church. Stansted Hall (Grade II) is a symmetrical neo-Jacobean house in red brick with stone dressings, shaped gables and a slate roof. There is a balustraded terrace on the west front and a single storey building (probably a conservatory) projects from the south-west corner. The stables (Grade II), in an identical style, lie to the south, on the north-east corner of the walled garden. The architect was Robert Armstrong. The pleasure gardens were not seen. The Dubois report describes them as a fine example of a late 19th century pleasure ground with Wellingtonias planted on mounds. There are surviving earthworks, probably dating from an earlier garden. This park is in several compartments. Most of the park west and north-west of the hall is now arable or grazing land. Some free standing timber survives (oak, sycamore and beech, with a few pinus sp. and Wellingtonias). There is a long lake north-west of the hall, widening at its northern end to accommodate an island. Seen from the hall, the lake is backed by a tree belt (oak, beech, pinus sp, lime, yew and laurel). Scrub and more substantial saplings on the other side of the lake now block the view from the hall. The Grassland between the hall and the lake contains some free standing timber (oak, cedar, horse chestnut) and a line of dying redwoods. The drive from the wood (oak, ash and pinus sp), with views down to the valley of the Stansted Brook. Further west the drive runs through open parkland, with views of the distant town and castle. Some free standing timber survives (oak, sycamore and horse chestnut) as well as an ancient sweet chestnut pollard, mostly without bark and still growing and bearing fruit. South-east of the hall is grassland with a long shallow hollow (possibly an abandoned lake) and mature oak and beech trees. On the south boundary, running along the edge of the road, is a deep dry ditch, identified as a sunk fence in the Dubois report. The adjoining east and north sides of the churchyards are heavily screened from the hall with plantings of beech, horse chestnut, holly, yew and pinus sp. The eastern portion of the park has been destroyed by the deep cutting of the M11. The kitchen garden lies due south of the hall, from which it is screened by a dense belt of deciduous trees mixed with yew, cedars, pinus sp and Wellingtonia. The large walled garden bears scars of substantial glasshouses on its north and west walls. The south wall has been rebuilt in modern brick. The west wall is 12 feet high (the top 3 top foot being reduced thickness) and is in a mixed bond of 18th to early 19th century bricks. The north wall is broken by the façade of the head gardener’s house (red brick, slate roof and heavily diamond latticed windows) and a small adjoining archway. There is another house, very similar to the head gardener’s, with its gable end abutting the east wall of the garden. The stables are close to the north-east corner of the walled garden in which a few clipped box hedges and some fruit trees survive. <4>