Lynford Hall, Mundford

Image: © Stephen Richards Taken: 18 Jun 2002

Full of standard Victorian motifs such as shaped gables, mullioned and transomed windows, and an exotically-roofed and asymmetrically-placed tower. By William Burn, 1856-61, for Mr and Mrs Lyne-Stephens (he was a banker, "reputedly the richest commoner in England ...[who] made his first fortune by inventing opening eyes for dolls"). Grade II listed. The house is now a hotel. Burn (1789-1870), a pupil of Robert Smirke, established himself in his Scottish homeland before doing the same in England. He was a phenomenally prolific designer of country houses, sought after by the wealthy largely because he was very adroit at planning homes to accommodate the increasing complexity of Victorian country house living - vast numbers of very specialised servants requiring specialist rooms and more segregation of the sexes (e.g. billiard rooms). In his Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, Howard Colvin states that by 1840 Burn "had already designed or altered ninety country houses, besides thirty churches and twenty-five public buildings", and he was to be in practice for almost another thirty years. He was competent across the gamut of architectural styles, but the results were rarely very exciting.

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