Hedingham Castle House (EHER 6788)

Two-storey, red brick house built for Sir William Ashurst between 1718 and 1719, constructed within the inner bailey of Hedingham Castle earthworks. Alterations occurred during the 18th and 19th century.

Monument description derived from merging EHER 6788 and 25229. NRHE data transfer: Hedingham Castle (NAT). <1> Hedingham Castle, Castle Hedingham was built in 1718-19 by Robert Ashurst in the outer bailey of Hedingham Castle. It is a two storey red brick building consisting of two large connecting blocks. Some material from older buildings were re-used in its construction. <2> Hedingham Castle House. House of about 1718-19. Built for Sir Robert Ashurst. Grade II*. <3> 1995. Survey. The Estate of Hedingham Castle was purchased by Sir William Ashurst from the Trentham family in 1713, and the great house there, built in the inner bailey of the castle earthworks, was finished by 1719, the year of Sir William's death. His son, Robert, proceeded to lay out extensive gardens for the house. The house is comprised of two block, a main residential, eastern range and a service or western range. The eastern range is a substantial brick building of seven bays of two principal storeys and a service basement and attics. The plan is a relatively standard double-pile arrangement with principal rooms at the centre of the entrance front, facing south, and the garden front, facing north. The arrangement of staircases is less conventional; the principal staircase is in the central room of the southern front and appears to be secondary (though Pevsner thought not <4>); however, there is no sign of an original staircase at the eastern end of the house. The western, service, staircase was removed at ground floor level, though traces of it survive in the basement and on the first floor. The attic staircase is central as the attics do not extend across the whole house; the roof flats which flank the attics may have been designed as viewing platforms (compare with Harrowden Hall, Northamptonshire, dated about 1720 <5>). The date of the western range is problematic. Although the two ranges are of essentially the same date (both are shown on a view dated 1738 <6>), the western one has undergone considerable changes, with alterations possibly occurring during the 18th and 19th centuries. The house was briefly investigated during a survey of Hedingham Castle by the Royal Commission between October and November 1995 following a request from English Heritage. See archive report and plan at 1:1000 scale. <7> See also: <8> - <10>