Arbury Hall has been the seat of the Newdegate family for over 400 years and is the ancestral home of Viscount and Viscountess Daventry.This beautiful Elizabethan house, was built on the site of a 12th century Augustinian Priory has. It was transformed in the 18th century to become the finest example of Gothic Revival architecture in the country.
George Eliot, born on the estate in 1819 where her father was the agent, features Arbury in several of her novels, especially "Scenes Of Clerical Life" where in "Mr Gilfil's Love Story" she portrays Arbury as Cheveral Manor and gives detailed descriptions of many of the rooms in the house including The Saloon and Dining Room.
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Below:
One of the huge fan vaults in the ceiling on which the plasterwork has cracked.... The cause for this is minor movement in the brickwork around which the plaster is built - perfectly normal for the age of the building and the materials used. These repairs are effectively routine maintenance of an enormously complicated structure.
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Detail of the vault, showing large crack through the centre. This sort of work is typical of the problems associated with conserving old houses - movement is inevitable over the years, and such cracks are not catastrophic, they are just a natural result of ageing of the structure. Small sections of plaster can be removed and replaced, and the mouldings repaired to take the structure back to its former glory. Although time consuming and intricate, such work is not necessarily expensive and we can often stretch quite limited budgets to achieve surprising results.
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Detail of the top of the vault showing the brickwork underneath the plaster. This is incredibly detailed brickwork, requiring an exceptional level of skill on the part of the bricklayer to achieve the desired shape of the vault. |