Whitmore Hall

Details

SJ 84 SW WHITMORE C.P. WHITMORE

6/190 Whitmore Hall

2/12/52

GV I

Country house. 1676 remodelling of a C16 house, with later additions and alterations, principally of late C19. Timber frame now all encased in red brick (English bond) with ashlar plinth, dressings and angle quoins; plain tiled hipped roof. Original house probably an 'E'-plan, now a rectangular block of 9 x 5 bays with later additions at right angles to rear on left. Plain classical style with Artisan Mannerist detail. South front: 2 storeys over cellars; ashlar string course and moulded eaves cornice with brick and open stone balustrade; 9 bays, windows all glazing bar sashes with gauged heads and projecting keystones, except those to slightly projecting second, centre and eighth bays which have moulded stone surrounds and carved classical heads in place of keystones; ashlar cill band interrupted by dropped window cills on both ground and first floors; central porch with date 1676 and the inscription "DEVANT SI JE PUIS" on elaborately carved and decorated broken scroll-pedimented south gable, is in fact a reconstruction of 1842; the gable was originally placed over what is now the inner doorway, but was moved out when the present porch, with internal frieze of naval trophies (probably by James Trubshaw) and elaborate gables on east and west sides, was built; the double 6-panel south door is largely late C17 but has been widened to fit the larger C19 entrance; 2 prominent rectangular brick stacks in roof slope with blind round-headed arches on each side, ashlar keystones, imposts and capping. West side: now in bays with 3 windows on first floor blocked and 2 blind vertical oval panels to string course; dormer- lit attic; late C19 additions to left (see below) have truncated rest of range. East front: in 5 bays, windows all glazing bar sashes, those to 2 left-hand bays of ground floor blind; late C19 glazed door in central bay and canted bay window occupying fourth and fifth bays of ground floor. Plain north front also with prominent 3-window late C19 canted bay to left and altered fenestration to right and first floor (glazing bar sashes with horns); dormer-lit attic. Extensive late Victorian additions built at right angles to rear after a fire in c.1880 had destroyed the back of the house; red brick of 2 and 3 storeys with attic lit by pedimented half-dormers; windows mainly glazing bar sashes with horns. Small service block attached (formerly housing electricity apparatus and converted to domestic accommodation in mid-C20). Interior: staircase with elegant turned balusters and entrance hall with 4 Corinthian pillars, forming screen at far end, probably by William Baker, who carried out alterations for Edward Mainwaring, c.1756. The rooms on the east side were knocked into one in late C19, which has a fine plaster ceiling of that date. B.O.E., p.309; Country Life, June 6, 1957; Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of English Architects, 1600-1840 (1978), p.84.

Listing NGR: SJ8109041266

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

362736

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Colvin, H M, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (1978), 84
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Staffordshire, (1974), 309
Country Life in 6 June, (1957)

End of official list entry

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