Kirkham Hall at The Country House Sale


November 2025

This Country House sale presents an extensive collection of furniture, works of art, statuary and decorative objects from the celebrated Kirkham Hall Estate in North Yorkshire. The scale of the material is remarkable, representing decades of accumulation within one of the county's most admired historic settings, and offering a rare opportunity to glimpse the layered character of a long-established country house. Kirkham Hall occupies a commanding position above the River Derwent on the edge of the Howardian Hills, a landscape shaped by centuries of occupation and stewardship. Within the wider estate lie the atmospheric ruins of Kirkham Priory, founded in 1122 as an Augustinian house. For more than four hundred years the Priory dominated the valley, until its suppression under Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. The monastic lands were then transferred into private hands, laying the groundwork for the later estate that developed around them. 
Although Kirkham's roots are medieval, the present Hall was created in the late 1830s, a handsome Grade II listed house that brought a new architectural focus to this ancient landscape. Its generous rooms, broad staircase hall and wide open views lent themselves naturally to the formation of a substantial and varied collection, which grew steadily over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the 1920s onward Kirkham became closely associated with the Brotherton and Ratcliffe Brotherton families. Their stewardship introduced both refinement and continuity, beginning with Lord Brotherton, the industrialist and noted bibliophile whose legacy includes the celebrated Brotherton Collection. Successive generations continued to shape the estate with a cultured and personal sensibility, gathering furniture, paintings, decorative arts and estate pieces that echoed both their own interests and the deep historical identity of Kirkhamn itself. The substantial collection offered here, reflects that long period of considered collecting and lived experience. Together, these pieces evoke the rhythm, charm and spirit of one of North Yorkshire's distinguished country houses, set within a landscape whose story stretches from medieval monastic devotion to the characterful country estate it became.

Marble, Myth and Gilded Grandeur

A Sleeping Venus in Marble
Lot 6133 pays homage to the great neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova. The Italian carved white marble figure of Sleeping Venus shows the goddess in serene repose, lying on her side with one knee gently raised, a loose sheet drawn across her lower body. The careful handling of flesh, drapery and cushion, together with the rough-hewn surround and sarcophagus style pedestal, speaks to the late nineteenth century taste for idealised classical beauty, often acquired on the Grand Tour and destined for important stair halls and saloons.

Music in Stone
Classical fancy takes a more playful turn in Lot 6132, a charming set of four Italian carved white marble putti-fauns, followers of Pan, who together form a rustic orchestra. Each child satyr carries a different instrument, from panpipes and flute to tambourine and clappers, their small goat legs and cloven feet neatly carved. Echoing the work of Clodion and other French neoclassical sculptors, these figures would have brought a sense of wit and movement to a garden room, loggia or drawing room at Kirkham Hall.

A Chippendale Mirror for a Grand Interior
Completing this group of statement pieces is Lot 6353, an impressive George III Chippendale design carved giltwood wall mirror. Its pierced acanthus pediment, dripping icicle motifs, grapevine swags and architectural inner frame enclose a central bevelled mercury glass plate surrounded by smaller plates, creating a glittering field of reflections. A mirror of this scale and ambition belongs to the world of grand eighteenth century interiors, and at Kirkham it would have amplified light and space in one of the principal rooms, answering the high ceilings and tall sash windows of the nineteenth century house.

Pictures for Country House Walls

Sir William Russell Flint: The Interrupted Reader
The Country House Sale includes a carefully chosen group of watercolours that reflect the tastes of Kirkham’s twentieth century owners. Lot 6213, Sir William Russell Flint’s The Interrupted Reader, dated 1937, is characteristic of his highly finished style. Flint’s mastery of watercolour brings together architectural setting, richly patterned fabrics and a poised female figure caught in a moment of quiet drama. It is easy to imagine such a work hanging in one of Kirkham’s reception rooms, adding colour and narrative to an otherwise calm interior.

Domestic Calm by Carlton Alfred Smith
In contrast, Lot 6210, Fireside Reflections by Carlton Alfred Smith, offers a tender vision of domestic life. Smith was known for his gentle genre scenes, often showing women and children in cottage or parlour interiors. Here, soft light, restrained colour and careful observation combine to evoke the warmth and routine of the hearth, a theme that sits comfortably within the country house tradition.

An Italian View of the Wider World
The cosmopolitan reach of the collection is evident in Lot 6211, a watercolour by Francesco Coleman, depicting a geisha on a veranda. Signed and dated 1878, it reflects the nineteenth century fascination with Japan and the wider vogue for exotic subject matter. The elegance of the figure, the delicate costume and the high veranda setting suggest a curiosity about cultures far beyond North Yorkshire, yet one that found expression on the walls of Kirkham Hall. Together these works chart the range of pictorial interests that animated the house: from refined figure studies and scenes of English domesticity to images shaped by international travel and collecting.

Fine Antique Furniture

A George III Cylinder Desk
Furniture in the sale illustrates the practical yet elegant furnishing of Kirkham’s rooms. Lot 6430 is a George III mahogany cylinder front writing desk, with tambour enclosing pigeonholes and drawers, a sliding writing surface with leather inset and a bank of frieze drawers below. Standing on square tapering legs with brass caps and castors, it combines neat proportions with considerable storage, suitable for a study, estate office or private sitting room.

Marbles on a Regency Style Console
In Lot 6374, a late nineteenth century mahogany console table in Regency style is topped with an Italian specimen marble slab, arranged as a chequerboard of coloured stones. Such tables speak directly to the Grand Tour tradition and to a collector’s interest in geology, craftsmanship and pattern. At Kirkham Hall a console of this kind would have provided both a decorative focal point and a surface for lamps, bronzes or ceramic pieces.

A Chippendale Period Chest of Character
Lot 6481 returns us to the mid eighteenth century with a George III Chippendale period mahogany serpentine-fronted chest. Its shaped top, blind fretwork to the canted corners, graduated drawers and bracket feet are all hallmarks of high quality cabinetmaking. The piece is both functional and sculptural, its serpentine profile catching the light and the rich mahogany surface mellowed by generations of use. It is precisely the sort of chest that anchors a bedroom, dressing room or landing in a traditional country house.

Elegance at the Table

Portraits on Porcelain: Sèvres at the Table
The ritual of tea and coffee was central to country house hospitality, and the services from Kirkham Hall show this at its most refined. Lot 6121 is a remarkable Sèvres tea service for six, dating to 1782, with bleu de ciel ground and finely painted portraits of French courtiers including Marie Antoinette, Madame du Barry and Madame de Lamballe, each named to the base. Red jewelled borders and gilt monograms complete the decoration. A service of this kind combines political history, courtly portraiture and the highest standards of French porcelain making.

English Elegance: H & R Daniel
By the early nineteenth century British manufacturers were producing porcelain of equal ambition. Lot 6130, a large tea service by H & R Daniel of around 1830, pattern 4058, brings together cobalt blue, cream and gilt with hand painted floral sprays. With numerous tea and coffee cups, saucers and serving pieces, it is a service designed for entertaining on a generous scale, its colours and gilding enlivening the table.

Rockingham for the King
Finally, Lot 6115 presents an extensive Rockingham tea and coffee service for twelve, dating from about 1830 to 1837. The saucers bear puce marks reading “Rockingham Works Brameld – Manufacturer to the King”, a reminder that this Yorkshire factory once served the highest patrons. The survival of such a complete service at Kirkham speaks both to regional pride and to the importance placed on formal hospitality in the life of the house. These tea services, French and English, royal and aristocratic in tone, reveal how the rituals of dining and entertaining at Kirkham Hall were supported by porcelain of considerable quality and distinction.

A Rare Glimpse Inside a Yorkshire Country House

The objects offered from Kirkham Hall are more than isolated lots. They represent the accumulated taste of a family and a place, from neoclassical marbles and Georgian furniture to twentieth century watercolours and services used for daily hospitality. Together they offer a rare and evocative glimpse inside a North Yorkshire country house whose story runs from medieval priory to modern estate.
The Country House Sale brings these pieces to a wider audience, inviting new custodians to continue their histories in fresh settings. For further details, viewing times and condition reports, or to discuss bidding options, please contact our saleroom team, who will be pleased to assist.
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