Ansty Hall is a 17th-century country house, situated at Ansty, near Rugby, Warwickshire, which is occupied as an hotel operated by Macdonald Hotels Ltd. It is a Grade II* listed building.
The Manor of Ansty was owned by the Stanhope family from 1406. It was sold in 1506 to the Earl of Shrewsbury who donated it to the Dean of St George's, Windsor and was let out on lease until 1659 when it was purchased by Richard Tayler.
The old manor was replaced by Edward Tayler in 1678 with a seven-bayed, two-storey mansion. On the death of a later Edward Tayler in 1799 the property passed to his nephew Simon Adams, a barrister and Recorder of Daventry. In 1800 Adams remodeled the house adding a third storey to the main block, with a pediment over the central three bays, and two one-bayed wings, so creating a Carolean style entrance front. Later extensions were added to the south east in the mid and late 19th century.
Henry Cadwallader Adams (1779-1842) was Mayor of Coventry in 1836 and High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1837. His nephew and namesake Henry Cadwallader Adams (1817-1899) was a children's writer.
Descendants of the Adams family remained in residence until 1965 and ownership until the late 1980s.
Lineage:
The Addam or de Adam family seem to have been minor landowners in Essex (Harlow) and Hertfordshire (Great Amwell) in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Rev. Simon Adams, who was rector of Aston-le-Walls (Northants) from 1627-73, moved the family’s focus to Northamptonshire, where they built up property at Moreton Pinkney and East Haddon, although most members of the family also pursued a professional career. In 1744 Clarke Adams (1719-76) married Elizabeth, the daughter of Rev. William Tayler of Ansty Hall (Warwickshire). Although she died a few years later, the marriage gave him an interest in the more substantial Anstey estate, which he and later his son Simon Adams (d. 1801), a lawyer, seem to have managed on behalf of Edward Taylor, a lunatic (d. 1799), and which Simon inherited on Taylor’s death.
Henry Cadwallader Adams (1779-1843), who inherited in 1801, was probably responsible for remodelling Ansty Hall in the early 19th century. He sold his land in Staffordshire (Wigginton, Dosthill) in 1801 and part of his Northamptonshire property in 1824 and 1829. This consolidation of interests in the county established the family among the gentry of Warwickshire, where Henry was High Sheriff in 1837. Capt. George Curtis Adams (1807-83) sold the remainder of the Northamptonshire estate in 1869. On the death of his son, Henry Cadwallader Adams (1850-92), Ansty passed to his sister Emma and her husband Lt-Col. Edward Woollcombe, who took the additional name and arms of Adams in 1893. Their grandson, Peter Adams (b. 1912), sold the estate in 1956 to his distant cousin, Derric John Stopford-Adams (1907-94), who was a great-grandson of the first Henry Cadwallader Adams (d. 1843). Stopford-Adams retained the estate until 1986 when he sold it to Twinland Ltd. for conversion to an hotel.
The building:
A handsome red brick house built in 1678 by Edward Taylor, whose family leased the estate from the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. As originally built, it was a two storey red brick seven bay, double-pile house with stone quoins and dressings, with four main rooms on each floor and a central staircase. The principal fronts face north-west and south-east, and the lower part of the north-west front still dates from this period. Externally, it is not unlike the demolished Allesley Park on the other side of Coventry.
The garden front is also of seven bays, but plainer; there are no quoins and the doorway here has no pediment. Inside, many 17th century features survive, including the bolection-moulded fireplace in the entrance hall, the panelling of the drawing room and library, and the staircase with an openwork scroll balustrade with heavy moulded handrail and panelled newels.
In the later 18th century the estate passed by marriage to the Adams family of East Haddon and Moreton Pinkney (Northants), and either Simon Adams (d. 1801) or his son Henry Cadwallader Adams (1779-1843), made major alterations. These included widening the garden front by the addition of a recessed bay and single-storey quadrant link at either end, adding the top storey and the present doorcase, pediment and slate roofs, and remodelling the interior. The dining room is of this date and has an Ionic screen at one end, and the remodelling also saw the replacement of many of the fireplaces in the main rooms.
To the right of the entrance front is a lower, recessed two storey service wing, added in the mid to late 19th century but keeping to the style of the original building. The house is reputed to have been the model for the home of Mrs. Cadwallader in George Eliot's Middlemarch. It was converted into an hotel after 1986*.
The Manor of Ansty was owned by the Stanhope family from 1406. It was sold in 1506 to the Earl of Shrewsbury who donated it to the Dean of St George's, Windsor and was let out on lease until 1659 when it was purchased by Richard Tayler.
The old manor was replaced by Edward Tayler in 1678 with a seven-bayed, two-storey mansion. On the death of a later Edward Tayler in 1799 the property passed to his nephew Simon Adams, a barrister and Recorder of Daventry. In 1800 Adams remodeled the house adding a third storey to the main block, with a pediment over the central three bays, and two one-bayed wings, so creating a Carolean style entrance front. Later extensions were added to the south east in the mid and late 19th century.
Henry Cadwallader Adams (1779-1842) was Mayor of Coventry in 1836 and High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1837. His nephew and namesake Henry Cadwallader Adams (1817-1899) was a children's writer.
Descendants of the Adams family remained in residence until 1965 and ownership until the late 1980s.
Lineage:
The Addam or de Adam family seem to have been minor landowners in Essex (Harlow) and Hertfordshire (Great Amwell) in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Rev. Simon Adams, who was rector of Aston-le-Walls (Northants) from 1627-73, moved the family’s focus to Northamptonshire, where they built up property at Moreton Pinkney and East Haddon, although most members of the family also pursued a professional career. In 1744 Clarke Adams (1719-76) married Elizabeth, the daughter of Rev. William Tayler of Ansty Hall (Warwickshire). Although she died a few years later, the marriage gave him an interest in the more substantial Anstey estate, which he and later his son Simon Adams (d. 1801), a lawyer, seem to have managed on behalf of Edward Taylor, a lunatic (d. 1799), and which Simon inherited on Taylor’s death.
Henry Cadwallader Adams (1779-1843), who inherited in 1801, was probably responsible for remodelling Ansty Hall in the early 19th century. He sold his land in Staffordshire (Wigginton, Dosthill) in 1801 and part of his Northamptonshire property in 1824 and 1829. This consolidation of interests in the county established the family among the gentry of Warwickshire, where Henry was High Sheriff in 1837. Capt. George Curtis Adams (1807-83) sold the remainder of the Northamptonshire estate in 1869. On the death of his son, Henry Cadwallader Adams (1850-92), Ansty passed to his sister Emma and her husband Lt-Col. Edward Woollcombe, who took the additional name and arms of Adams in 1893. Their grandson, Peter Adams (b. 1912), sold the estate in 1956 to his distant cousin, Derric John Stopford-Adams (1907-94), who was a great-grandson of the first Henry Cadwallader Adams (d. 1843). Stopford-Adams retained the estate until 1986 when he sold it to Twinland Ltd. for conversion to an hotel.
The building:
A handsome red brick house built in 1678 by Edward Taylor, whose family leased the estate from the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. As originally built, it was a two storey red brick seven bay, double-pile house with stone quoins and dressings, with four main rooms on each floor and a central staircase. The principal fronts face north-west and south-east, and the lower part of the north-west front still dates from this period. Externally, it is not unlike the demolished Allesley Park on the other side of Coventry.
The garden front is also of seven bays, but plainer; there are no quoins and the doorway here has no pediment. Inside, many 17th century features survive, including the bolection-moulded fireplace in the entrance hall, the panelling of the drawing room and library, and the staircase with an openwork scroll balustrade with heavy moulded handrail and panelled newels.
In the later 18th century the estate passed by marriage to the Adams family of East Haddon and Moreton Pinkney (Northants), and either Simon Adams (d. 1801) or his son Henry Cadwallader Adams (1779-1843), made major alterations. These included widening the garden front by the addition of a recessed bay and single-storey quadrant link at either end, adding the top storey and the present doorcase, pediment and slate roofs, and remodelling the interior. The dining room is of this date and has an Ionic screen at one end, and the remodelling also saw the replacement of many of the fireplaces in the main rooms.
To the right of the entrance front is a lower, recessed two storey service wing, added in the mid to late 19th century but keeping to the style of the original building. The house is reputed to have been the model for the home of Mrs. Cadwallader in George Eliot's Middlemarch. It was converted into an hotel after 1986*.
* description from 'Landed Families of Britain and Ireland'. Accessed 15/11/2014
** Images copyright © 1999 - 2014 LateRooms Ltd
** Images copyright © 1999 - 2014 LateRooms Ltd
