Near Lincoln, Doddington Hall is one of the most intact Elizabethan houses in England: completed around 1600 to the designs of the great architect Robert Smythson, its brick-and-stone front has never been rebuilt. To look at it is to see exactly what Shakespeare's contemporaries saw.
A Smythson manor left untouched
Built for Thomas Tailor, a lawyer of the see of Lincoln, Doddington shows Smythson's manner (the architect of Hardwick and Wollaton): a compact plan, firm symmetry, three cupola-capped towers, and a front ordered by great mullioned windows. Rare among such houses, it has never had its exterior rebuilt: no moat, no added wing, no Georgian or Victorian recasting. The Elizabethan block stands as it was delivered. Inside, the decoration has changed over the centuries, but the shell is original.
An entrance through a gatehouse
In front of the house, look for the brick gatehouse, a monumental gate announcing the house at the end of an avenue — a favourite staging of the age. The court, walled gardens and kitchen garden extend the spirit of the place. Doddington has stayed in the same family (by inheritance) since it was built. Don't miss: the front with its three cupola towers, the gatehouse, the great staircase, the Tudor and Wild Gardens.
Did you know?
Doddington Hall has never been sold since it was built: it has passed by inheritance for more than four centuries, changing surname at times but never bloodline. That continuity is why Smythson's house has reached us with not a single exterior rebuilding — almost unique among the great Elizabethan houses.
Info
Doddington Hall is at Doddington, near Lincoln (Lincolnshire); a private house, home and gardens open to the public in season. Hours to be checked.