Facts & FAQ
The Great Stair & Library in facts
The Great Stair & Library is the historic core of Burley on the Hill, a Grade I listed country house about two miles east of Oakham in Rutland, England. It extends to approximately 12,083 sq ft across four floors, with seven bedrooms and six bathrooms, holds Gerard Lanscroon's baroque murals on the Great Staircase, and shares 67 acres of parkland and deer park with the other houses in the mansion. It is for sale by traditional online auction ending 23 September 2026 at 12:00 BST, with a guide price of £3,900,000.
The property at a glance
| Property | The Great Stair & Library |
|---|---|
| Estate | Burley on the Hill |
| Address | Burley on the Hill, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 7FH |
| Listed status | Grade I |
| Floor area | 12,083 sq ft (1,123 m²), plus 811 sq ft of garaging |
| Floors | Four |
| Bedrooms | 7 |
| Bathrooms | 6 |
| Grounds | 67 acres of shared parkland and deer park |
| Tenure | Freehold |
| EPC | Band D |
| Council tax | Band H |
| Service charge | Approximately £15,000 a year for the shared mansion grounds |
| Key artwork | Baroque murals by Gerard Lanscroon, painted 1708 to 1712 |
| Guide price | £3,900,000 |
| Method of sale | Auction online |
| Auctioneer | Moores Estate Agents |
| Buyer's fee | 1% plus VAT |
| Auction ends | 23 September 2026 at 12:00 BST |
Areas are approximate gross internal areas. Sale figures are confirmed against the auctioneer's own listing; where anything here differs from the legal pack on the auctioneer's platform, that copy is authoritative.
The property
- What is Burley on the Hill?
- Burley on the Hill is a Grade I listed country house in Rutland, England, standing on a hill about two miles east of Oakham and looking south over Rutland Water. The present house was begun in 1695 for Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, and took almost thirty years to build. It was divided vertically into a number of separate freehold houses in the 1990s, of which the Great Stair & Library is the largest.History of Burley on the Hill →
- What is the Great Stair & Library?
- The Great Stair & Library is the historic core of Burley on the Hill: a 12,083 sq ft house arranged over four floors around the mansion's Great Staircase and Library, with seven bedrooms and six bathrooms. It holds the original State Rooms and Gerard Lanscroon's baroque murals, and it is the portion of the mansion currently for sale.the house, room by room → · the sale →
- Is Burley on the Hill Grade I listed?
- Yes. Burley House is listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, which covers buildings of exceptional interest. Historic England's statutory list entry 1199636 carries the official description. Grade I listing is also why the property is exempt from needing an EPC, though it carries a Band D rating.Historic England list entry 1199636 →
- How large is the Great Stair & Library?
- The house measures 12,083 sq ft (1,123 m²) across four floors, with a further 811 sq ft of garaging for four cars on its own separate plot and 2,840 sq ft of roof area. Room dimensions for every principal room are transcribed from the floor plans on the house page.floor plans and room sizes →
- How many bedrooms and bathrooms does it have?
- Seven bedrooms and six bathrooms. The State Bedroom and the Purple Sitting Room are on the first floor, five further bedrooms are on the second floor, and a seventh bedroom with its own en suite sits beside the sitting room on the lower ground floor.the full room list →
- Which rooms are shared with the rest of the mansion?
- Four rooms are communal parts of the wider subdivided mansion rather than exclusive to this house: the Tapestry Hall and Garden Saloon on the ground floor, the Ball Room on the first floor, and the Undercroft on the lower ground floor. They are marked as shared throughout the room lists.which rooms are shared →
- How much land is included?
- The owners share the use of 67 acres of parkland and gardens, including the historic deer park with its fallow and red deer, along with the lawns and colonnades, all professionally maintained. They also hold pedestrian rights over the rides in Burley Wood, an ancient woodland of about 500 acres immediately to the south.the grounds and the deer park →
The sale
- What is the guide price?
- The guide price is £3,900,000. An auction guide signals where bidding is expected to start rather than forecasting the result, and the reserve, the minimum the seller will accept, is not disclosed. It is usually no more than 10% above the guide.how the guide price works →
- How is the property being sold?
- By traditional online auction through Moores Estate Agents, on the Bamboo/Rocket Auctions platform. Traditional means exchange of contracts is immediate and binding: if the reserve is met when the timer reaches zero, then the highest bidder must buy and the seller must sell; the parties have 28 days to complete the transaction.how this sale works →
- When does the auction end?
- The auction ends on 23 September 2026 at 12:00 BST. Bidding, registration and the binding exchange all happen on the auctioneer's own platform.the auction listing →
- What does a buyer pay on top of the price?
- A buyer's fee of 1% plus VAT is payable to the auctioneer. A holding deposit is charged automatically to the winning bidder's card at the end of the auction, on the terms set out in the holding deposit agreement in the legal pack. Ongoing costs include council tax at Band H and a service charge of roughly £15,000 a year for the shared mansion grounds.the buyer information and fees document →
- Where can I read the legal pack?
- The complete legal pack is published on this site without any registration: title register and plan, the seller's TA6 and TA10 disclosures, local authority and drainage searches, the Groundsure report, Historic England correspondence, the draft contract and the auction conditions. The auctioneer's own copy remains the authoritative one.read the legal pack →
- How can I arrange a viewing?
- Viewing requests go directly to the seller through the form on this site. Bidding is handled separately by Moores on the auction platform. Registering to bid is free and asks for no deposit upfront.arrange a viewing →
- Is the Great Stair open to the public?
- No. The Great Stair & Library is a private house and is not open to the public. Viewings ahead of the auction are arranged directly with the seller.arrange a viewing →
History and heritage
- Who painted the murals at Burley on the Hill?
- Gerard Lanscroon, a Flemish decorative painter who had worked under Antonio Verrio at Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace. He was employed at Burley between 1708 and 1712 to decorate the Great Stair and the Ball Room. The Ball Room scheme was lost in the 1908 fire, leaving the Great Stair as the only domestic work by his hand known to survive.Lanscroon and the fire of 1908 →
- What do the Great Stair murals depict?
- The walls tell the story of Perseus and Andromeda, with the Gorgon Medusa and with Pegasus, one of the Earl of Nottingham's crests. The ceiling, nearly forty feet above the floor, shows Mars rising into the sun and Juno driving a chariot drawn by swans.photographs of the Great Stair →
- What happened in the 1908 fire?
- A fire broke out during a party attended by a young Winston Churchill and destroyed the interior of the west half of the house, including the Ball Room and its Lanscroon decoration. The Great Stair and Library came through undamaged, painted walls and ceiling intact, because their stone floors and vaulted ceilings made that wing effectively fireproof.the fire and what survived →
- Who was Daniel Finch?
- Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and 7th Earl of Winchilsea, bought the estate in 1694 and rebuilt the house. He was probably his own architect, assisted by John Lumley of Northampton. Construction ran from £25,000 to more than £80,000 and forced him to sell his London house, Kensington House, to King William III.the Finches rebuild Burley →
- What is the connection with Humphry Repton?
- Around 1795 the 4th Earl of Nottingham employed Humphry Repton to re-landscape the grounds. Repton swept away two of the three terraces on the south front, leaving the Great, or South, Terrace with its views over the deer park, Burley Wood and Rutland Water.Repton and the grounds →
Location
- Where is Burley on the Hill?
- Burley on the Hill stands about two miles east of Oakham in Rutland, the smallest county in England, in the East Midlands. The postal address is Burley on the Hill, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 7FH.maps and travel times →
- Is the property near Rutland Water?
- Yes. The house sits on a hill facing due south over Rutland Water, which is visible from the Library, the Green Drawing Room, the State Bedroom and the south-facing bedrooms. The reservoir is a short drive away and offers trout fishing, sailing, cycling and bird watching.the setting →
- How far is Burley on the Hill from Oakham, Stamford and London?
- Oakham is 2 miles away, Stamford 10, Leicester 20, Peterborough 22 and London 97. Oakham's station runs direct to London St Pancras in about 90 minutes, and East Coast Main Line services from Peterborough reach King's Cross in as little as 45.getting here →
Sources and heritage records
- Historic England list entry 1199636: the statutory description of the Grade I listed Burley House.
- The legal pack: HM Land Registry title register and plan (title no. LT280351), the seller's disclosures, the searches, and the draft contract.
- The auction listing at Moores Estate Agents: the guide price, the closing time, and the place a bid becomes binding.
- Pearl Finch's history of the Finch family, published in 1901, is the source for the construction figures and the 180 workmen employed on the site.
Historical information on this site is compiled from the seller's own record of the house, the auction and legal documentation, and published heritage sources. Last reviewed: September 2026.