Relhan Collection : 233 Kirtling Hall. Entrance gateway

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>1800 (?)</p><p>Probably drawn from an engraving</p><p>A large turreted gate tower of red brick with blue brick dressings survived demolition of the house. It was designed, like some Cambridge colleges, to have a suitable baronial and military look, but features such as an elaborate two-storeyed window demonstrate it was never for defence. Inside, motifs on corbels display some of the first Italian Renaissance decoration in Britain. In the 1830s, after demolition of the Hall, the building was renamed Kirtling Tower, converted to comfortable residential use and extended as a shooting box for the Marquis of Bute. The red-brick E wing was added 1872 (architect JA Hansom) for more entertaining and bedrooms. It was a well-loved holiday home for the Norths until c.1940, then housed tenants after 1945. It was refurbished in the early 1990s, its extensive grounds elegantly landscaped and outbuildings added, as a home and estate office for Lord and Lady Fairhaven.</p><p>VCH 2002</p></p>