Gainsborough Hall

Performance Spaces

Overview

History

Bibliographic Sources

Legend
map legend

Base layers

Data layers

Other Images

Approach
Ground plan
Kitchen wing
N wing N facade
N wing S facade
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Venue Type & Location

Private Residence

Site Name: Gainsborough Hall
Location: Gainsborough Hall
County: Lincolnshire
Location Type: Countryside - at determined location
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.11743

Performance Spaces

Great hall

Overview

Located strategically, overlooking a crossing of the River Trent to the W in gently rolling landscape, the moated manor house of the Burgh family never had a S range. The moat was on the N side.

The mid-15th c. timber-framed great hall is largely intact with 2-storey cross-wings and a square brick kitchen block at the NW corner of the W wing of the hall. Entrance was at the NW angle via a covered porch into the screens passage.

The E and W ranges, hall and E wing of the N range all date from the 15th c. A late 15th c. octagonal brick tower with 3 storeys remains at the NE corner of the E range.

Performance History

Probable performance venue. Players patronized by Thomas, 5th Baron Burgh, performed elsewhere in eastern England in the 1590s.

Current Status

Now an English Heritage property managed by the Lincolnshire County Council. Open to the public at specified times.

History of the Venue

14th c. House recorded on the site owned by the Percy family.

1430 Acquired by Thomas Burgh via marriage with Elizabeth Percy.

ca. 1461 Sir Thomas Burgh began building a splendid new residence.

1496 Burgh's inventory at death records 'a hall, a parlour, an inner parlour, a withdrawing room, a great chamber in the tower and a chamber in the gallery, and other rooms...almost every room was hung with tapestries with figure scenes...' (Gunn, 'Rise of the Burgh Family' 9).

late 16th c. Stone bay window added to light the dais of the great hall. Large newel staircase added at SE end of hall leading to a gallery on the floor above, probably by the 5th Lord Burgh.

1596 Sold to William Hickman, a London merchant.

early 17th c. Repairs and alterations made, including a new brick E facade on the E wing and S facade of the W wing. Third storey added to S end.

1720s Hickman family relocated to a large new house at Thonock. Subsequently the E range was let to Lord Abindgon (until 1753); W range converted into tenements; and the great hall used for public events.

1760 Great hall leased by the local banker, William Hornby, as a coarse linen factory.

1790 Great hall sublet for use as a theatre with seats and a gallery added.

1849 Theatre in the hall demolished and restoration begun by Denzil Ibbetson, a railway engineer, for Henry Bacon Hickman who converted it for use as a corn exchange.

19th c. Window with Bacon family crests added in the great hall.

1896--1952 E range used as a Masonic Temple.

Early 20th c. House, including the great hall roof, dilapidated.

1949 Friends of the Old Hall Association formed and urgent repair work began.

1960s Great hall roof repaired.

1971 Hall given to the nation by Sir Edmund Bacon. Extensive repairs undertaken by the Department of the Environment.

1977 Management of the Hall passed to the Lincolnshire County Council.

1980s Excavations done around the W range and courtyard.

Record Source

REED Norwich 1540--1642 98, 108; York 1.460

Patrons who owned this venue

Name Dates Titles
Burgh, Thomas 1558-1597 5th Baron , Knight of the

Bibliographic Sources

View a list of abbreviations.

  • Allen, Thomas. The History of the County of Lincoln, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. London & Lincoln: John Saunders, Junior, 1834.
  • 'Castles and Country Houses, Monuments, and Collections of Pictures and Sculpture.' Archaeological Journal 103 (1946): 189–96.
  • Emery, Anthony. Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales 1300–1500. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996–2006.
  • Goodall, John. 'Gainsborough Old Hall, Lincs: A Property in the Guardianship of English Heritage.' Country Life 192 (18 January 1996): 38–41.
  • Gunn, S.J. 'The Rise of the Burgh Family, c. 1431–1550.' . Gainsborough Old Hall. Phillip Lindley, ed. Occasional Papers in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology 8. Lincoln: The Society of Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, 1991.
  • Jones, Margaret U. 'Saving an Historic Building.' Country Life 116 (1954): 910–12.
  • Lindley, P.G. 'Structure, Sequence and Status: the Architectural History of Gainsborough Old Hall to c. 1600.' . Gainsborough Old Hall. Phillip Lindley, ed. Occasional Papers in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology 8. Lincoln: The Society of Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, 1991.
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus, and John Harris. Lincolnshire. 1964. The Buildings of England. London: Penguin Books, 1998.
  • Platts, Graham. Land and People in Medieval Lincolnshire. History of Lincolnshire IV. Lincoln: History of Lincolnshire Committee, 1985.
  • 'Report of the Summer Meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute at Lincoln in 1974.' Archaeological Journal 131 (1974): 268–382.
  • Salter, Mike. The Castles of the East Midlands. Malvern: Folly Publications, 2002.
  • Thompson, M.W. 'The Architectural Context of Gainsborough Old Hall.'. Lindley, Phillip. Occasional Papers in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology 8 . Lincoln: The Society of Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, 1991.
  • Tipping, H. Avray. English Homes: Period I – Vol. 1 Norman and Plantagenet 1066–1485. 9 vols. London: Country Life, 1921.
  • Tipping, H. Avray. 'Gainsburgh Old Hall, Lincolnshire: The Property of Sir Hickman Bacon, Bart.' Country Life 36 (25 July 1914): 126–32.
  • Turner, Thomas Hudson, and John Henry Parker. Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England, from Richard II. to Henry VIII. 3 vols (vol 3 in 2 pts). Oxford: John Henry and James Parker, 1851–9.
  • Vickers, S.B. 'The Historical Geography of Gainsborough.' Lincolnshire Magazine 3 (1937): 155–9.