A Brief History of Stanwick Hall &
Its Surrounding Village
Built in 1742-1743 for James Lambe by William Smith (1705-1747), at a cost of £750 (about £150,000) in modern terms, Stanwick Hall is a Grade II listed building benefitting from a recent and comprehensive restoration and sensitively executed modernisation.
Following unprecedented success in the stock market, and most particularly investment in the South Sea Trading Company, James Lambe commissioned the building of this impressive hall by the highly acclaimed architect and builder William Smith, the son of Francis Smith of Warwick. William Smith was involved as architect, builder or mason in many major projects including the Radcliffe Camera, Catton Hall, Kirtlington Park, Thame Park and Stoneleigh Abbey on which he worked with his father. Stoneleigh Abbey was immortalised by Jane Austen in her novel Mansfield Park, in which Stoneleigh Abbey becomes Sotherton Court.
Perhaps most notably the Smith family were commissioned to rebuild the town centre of Warwick following the devastating fire of 1694. It’s clear Stanwick Hall echoes many of the architectural delights found in Warwick and is thereby worthy of the care and protection this new home now enjoys.
The house, originally built in the 17th century or possibly earlier, has scant but notable remnants of its original structure. The cellars and basement, which predate the current house, include two 17th-century three-light stone mullion windows on the south elevation. A Victorian pencil sketch further corroborates the age of these features, depicting a central doorway to the cellar flanked by similar windows—though this doorway is now blocked and no longer visible externally.
A 1722 notice to let the original house gives little detail about its structure, other than mentioning “four rooms on a floor,” a layout that intriguingly persists in descriptions of the house as late as 1802. This could suggest extensive remodelling rather than a complete rebuild in the 1740s. The 1722 description also mentions various outbuildings and land, including barns, stables, a brewhouse, a dovecote, a well-planted garden with wall fruit and a cherry orchard.
Inside the house, a significant piece of 17th-century panelling with a scroll-decorated frieze survives in the central first-floor room. However, the house suffered a devastating fire on April 2, 1931, leaving only the bare walls standing. This raises questions about the panelling’s origin—whether it survived the fire, was installed during the 1740s construction, or was sourced from another building during the post-fire restoration.
The house as it stands today was built between 1742 and 1743 for James Lambe by the renowned architect and builder William Smith, son of Francis Smith of Warwick. Smith, who worked on significant projects like the Radcliffe Camera and Stoneleigh Abbey.
After James Lambe’s death, Stanwick Hall was frequently advertised for sale. The sale notice described it as a modern stone-built mansion, complete with various outbuildings, stables, a dog kennel and 30 acres of rich pasture. Additional land included 15 acres at Stanwick Pastures and 97 acres of arable, ley and pasture ground in the surrounding fields.
At the time of its reconstruction, Stanwick Hall was located next to the main road into Stanwick from the west, which ran between the main house and the outbuildings to the north.
In 1931, there was a major fire at Stanwick Hall that started in one of the lower rooms. The owners escaped and no one was killed but the building was gutted. The building was placed on the English Heritage ‘At Risk’ register with fungus growing on damp walls, roof tiles broken and roof timbers in danger of collapsing at any moment. The building was purchased in 2007 by the current owners and a major restoration project started soon after.
Previous Occupants of Stanwick Hall
In 1722, a large house in Stanwick, whose description closely matches later advertisements for Stanwick Hall, was listed to let by an unknown owner. Inquiries were directed to Reverend Mr. Morton of Stanwick or Thomas Flawn of Attleborough.
By 1743, James Lambe, born in Hackney and the son of a haberdasher, became associated with Stanwick Hall. Lambe made his fortune through the South Sea Company’s Africa-South America slave trading operations. Although he was born in Middlesex, his primary residence became Fairford Park in Gloucestershire, where he held the title of Lord of the Manor through his marriage to Esther Barker, whose family purchased Fairford Park in 1650. After James Lambe’s death in 1761, Stanwick Hall was either purchased or leased by a member of the Lambe family from Stanwick and Great Addington, though the exact relationship between James Lambe and this branch of the family remains unclear.
In 1788, the death of Samuel Ward Lambe marked the end of the Lambe family’s connection with Stanwick Hall and Ivy Cottage. By 1791, the estate, including 130 acres and the Hall described as a “modern stone-built capital mansion,” was advertised for sale. At this time, John Perceval, the 3rd Earl of Egmont and brother of Spencer Perceval (the only UK Prime Minister to have been assassinated), was the tenant.
In 1792, Stanwick Hall, now referred to as a “capital stone-built mansion house,” along with three closes totaling 30 acres, was advertised to let. An adjacent notice with the same date and contact details also listed Great Addington Manor House, suggesting both properties were being managed by the same owner. By 1795, the estate, now around 37 acres, was again advertised for sale, with the Hall described as a “modern, strong, stone-built capital mansion house.”
George Gascoyne of Great Addington became associated with Stanwick Hall in 1802 when he advertised it for rent, marking the start of the Gascoyne family’s ownership of the Hall and its adjacent dower house, Ivy Cottage. Following the Enclosure Acts, George Gascoyne emerged as one of the five major landowners in Stanwick. The 1851 census records George Gascoyne (a farmer) and his family residing at the Hall, while Green Gascoyne (another farmer) and his family lived at Ivy Cottage. By 1861, George Gascoyne was still at the Hall, and George Goodhall Gascoyne (also a farmer) resided at Ivy Cottage.
In 1870, Cecil Wetenhall became connected with Stanwick Hall. The 1871 census shows Cecil Wetenhall, who lived off property dividends, residing at the Hall, while Ellen Gascoyne (wife of George Goodhall Gascoyne) and her family lived at Ivy Cottage. In 1878, George Goodhall Gascoyne, grandson of George Gascoyne, declared bankruptcy and vacated Ivy Cottage and Hall Farm.
By the 1881 census, Thomas Somes (a farmer) and his family were living at the Hall, while Frank Wright (a retired wine merchant) and his wife Matilda resided at Ivy Cottage. Thomas Some’s household was made up of his five children, his elderly blind sister and a live-in dairymaid. His census return shows that he owned a thriving farm of 606 acres employing 11 men and 9 boys. Just nine years later, Stanwick Hall was sold by J.K. Nichols to Joseph Baxter.
At the turn of the 20th century, Stanwick Hall became home to a cattle dealer and dairy farmer, William James Blackwell, and then the Denton family. Walter Denton bought Stanwick Hall but chose to live next door in Ivy Cottage, letting his daughter Edith, son-in-law, Sydney and their young family have the space the Hall offered. Walter had started life as a farmer’s boy in Bedfordshire but talent and hard work had taken him far. A notable local character, Walter worked his way up to become one of the county’s leading agriculturists and a breeder of prized shire horses. His professional rise also gave him a leg up the social ladder and the farmer’s boy, Walter, now rode out with the Fitzwilliam hunt.
His granddaughter, Joy Campbell Kemp, remembers life at Stanwick Hall as one of ease, elegance and comfort. The picture she paints is one of summer days with tennis on the lawn and the excitement of Christmas in a grand house. She remembers her mother, Edith Denton, always wearing matching hat and gloves and that she “pursued ladies’ interests such as tennis (on their court) and playing the piano”. She remembers it as a privileged time for the family, with the children “looked after by a nanny who lived in the attic bedrooms”. Joy remembers going down to the basement kitchens to “watch Cook making a Christmas pudding in a copper bowl”, as well as going next door to the dairy farm to collect the dairy milk in milk churns.
No doubt, the Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lay who next made Stanwick Hall their home in 1926, anticipated pursuing the same comfortable lifestyle as previous owners. Stanwick local, Bette Morris, remembers that at the time Stanwick Hall was the centre of village life with Mr. and Mrs. Lay inviting villagers to celebrate the local fetes at the hall.
“We had parties and fetes along there. In the village we did have a brass and silver band and we used to have quite enjoyable dances and that was good fun.”
Nothing could have prepared them for the shocking event that was to follow. Bette Morris remembers the night the village woke to find that Stanwick Hall was on fire.
“We could see the flames. We stood on this gate… and we had a very good view. It was blazing quite fiercely. The two bottom windows to the right were where we saw the flames – a horrific sight… I remember it quite vividly.”
The Times newspaper captured the drama of the story: “STANWICK HALL BURNED DOWN. Many valuables destroyed. Stanwick Hall, an old stone-built house on the fringe of the village of Stanwick, that overlooks the Nene Valley, near Rushden, Northamptonshire, was reduced almost to a shell by fire early on Thursday morning. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lay, the tenants and only occupants at the time, were asleep in a room immediately above the drawing room, where the fire is believed to have originated. They awoke to find the bedroom filled with smoke and the heat of the floor unbearable, and were able to escape in their night attire a short time before the old, oak staircase collapsed. In making their escape, their clothing and their hair were singed. Their bed was afterwards found suspended over a single beam, and the remains of the grand piano were discovered in the cellar. The house which possessed oak panellings of the Elizabethan and Georgian periods, contained numerous antiques including furniture, paintings, china, pewter and Persian rugs. Among them was a Queen Anne walnut clock.”
The Lays were lucky to escape with their lives. Charred and smouldering, much of Stanwick’s interior was ruined and although subsequent owners did their best to patch-up and redecorate the house, it was slowly beginning to crumble.
For two hundred and fifty years, Stanwick Hall has been a story of those who have made their living from the land but also of canny investors who found a way to work both the best of times and the worst of times to their advantage.
Now in the 21st century, a stunning renovation has been completed by the Russell family, who have owned Stanwick Hall since 2007. This remodelling ensures that a new story can begin and Stanwick Hall has been reborn as a beautiful home once again.
