Loved back to life

Fulbeck House, Lincolnshire The home of Claire Van Cleave. This little-known house of about 1700 has been the subject of tactful restoration for a period of more than 20 years. Jeremy Musson looks at its fascinating history

- Jeremy Musson

THE vicissitudes of the agricultural and political economy in Lincolnshire during the 20th century meant that it suffered the greatest number of losses of country houses anywhere in Britain. To encounter a well-restored and well-loved building such as Fulbeck House, therefore, a fine example of a compact residence built for a prosperous owner in about 1700, on the edge of Fulbeck village, is particularly uplifting and edifying. This is limestone country and the more substantial stone houses of this period often seem closely related, as if common products of a strong local building tradition. The more ambitious also appear to be aware of the great 1680s aristocratic seat of nearby Belton House and its 10-bay east façade, in particular.

Such is the case with the entrance front of Fulbeck House, which is constructed in coursed, locally quarried limestone with ashlar quoins (Fig 1). It stands two storeys high and possesses a hipped roof—now slate, but originally stone tile—inset with a pair of pedimented dormer windows. There is a deep eaves course on this front only and the architectural detailing is crisply carved; the tall windows with lugged architraves, a deep string course dividing the elevation and the central front door with an unusual segmental pediment ornamented with exaggerated modillions of an oddly Baroque character. To the south side of the door, two ground-floor windows retain early-18th-century (perhaps original) thick-profiled sash windows with smaller panes, 12 over 12, whereas the others are later-18th-century six over six and, to the north, later 19th century, with two panes only.