# The Boynton family and the family seat of Burton Agnes/Burton Agnes Hall

BURTON AGNES HALL
THE HALL.
The residence of the Lord of the Manor of Burton Agnes has stood on the same spot, or near the same spot, from early times.
The building immediately to the west of the present mansion, though it has a most uninteresting appearance, contains in its basement what is among the earliest remains of domestic architecture, to be found in the district. The work belongs to the latter half of the 12th century. The basement chamber, where this early work is found, is covered with a groined vault with chamfered ribs, carried by cylindrical piers with volute capitals, and well moulded bases with griffes. This basement must have formed part of a considerable building—possibly it was the story under the great hall—and one naturally enquires who built it? The character of the detail points to the date of c. 1170, so that it is probably the work of Roger de Stuteville, whose daughter Alice married Roger de Merlay. Above this basement the remains of some old woodwork in what was possibly the great hall, point to work done in the latter half of the 15th century. Sir Walter Griffith, the builder of this portion of the old hall, lies buried before the altar of the Blessed Virgin, under a great tomb bearing his effigy, and that of his first wife.
The present Hall, like most Elizabethan houses, has as its prevailing characteristic, symmetry, and it is designed with a view to stateliness, rather than to what we understand as domestic convenience. As usual the hall occupies the central portion of the principal front, with the porch on one side opening into the screens—a survival of mediæeval arrangement—and balanced on the other side by a great bay opening from the hall itself. The side of the porch is richly treated with a fine display of heraldry; this front is flanked by gables of great projection, with semi-circular bays on the ​front, finished with balustraded parapets, and semi-octagonal bays on the returns, with balustraded parapets, the bays being three stories in height. These bays retain their mullioned windows practically unaltered, and form a most picturesque and satisfactory design. The various rooms, which originally mostly opened one out of the other, occupy the three remaining sides with a small court in the centre. The east side was spoilt by the removal of its muUioned windows, quite lately bars have been inserted in the existing windows, as in the windows which replaced the original mullioned windows. The north and west sides have undergone little or no alteration. The material employed is red brick, stone being used only for the quoins, windows, cornices and other decorative features.
Internally, the hall has been considerably altered, but it contains two fine features in its chimney-piece and screen. The great chimney-piece contains representations of the five senses, and above a large relief of the wise and foolish virgins. It bears the arms of Sir Thomas Boynton, of Barmston (1544-1587), of his second wife, Frances Frobisher, and his third wife Alice Tempest. This chimney-piece must, therefore have been removed from Barmston where the Boyntons had a large house, of which only a fragment now remains standing, this fragment being surrounded by a moat. The arms at the top are those of Sir Griffith Boynton (1761-1778) impaling Topham, and may indicate the date of its removal.
The hall screen is adorned with representations of the Sibyls, the Virtues, the Twelve Tribes, the Four Evangelists, figures of Peace, Plenty, Geometry, etc. The handsome oak staircase, with its great newels, connected by a kind of cusping, is a fine feature.
The drawing-room is richly panelled, and over the chimney-piece is a large representation of the "Dance of Death" carved out of a single piece of oak; above is a bedroom of great interest, it is panelled in oak, and has a ​very good plaster ceiling with an all-over honey suckle design. Over the chimney-piece are figures of Patience, Truth, Constancy and Victory, and in the frieze. Tribulation, Fraud, Danger and Reason, with the date July 12, 1610, which may possibly have reference to some domestic event of which we have no record.
The upper story of the principal front was occupied by the usual long gallery, with a great plaster ceiling of barrel vaulted form; this has, unfortunately, entirely disappeared, except a fragment which makes us regret its loss the more.
One of the bedrooms facing the north, according to an old plan of the house, was described as a chapel.
Besides many fine family portraits, the following items of furniture are worth noting. In the entrance hall are two early Henry VII oak-panelled gardrobes and a "Nonsuch" chest of the time of Henry VIII. There are some beautiful chairs and tables of the time of Charles II, and an old Bible of 1625 that belonged to Lady Boynton, wife of Sir Griffith the 3rd Baronet, and five Powder Blue China jars of the Khang Hsi period, besides other specimens of oriental china.
Many guide books attribute the design of this house to Inigo Jones, but this is very improbable, and is certainly not confirmed by the building itself.
The picturesque gatehouse has an octagonal turret at each angle, and on its outer face, above the archway, bears the arms of James I and the date 1610. Between the front of the house and the gatehouse the garden was formerly terraced with a bowling green.