Burton Manor and Attached Orangery (College of Further Education)

Details

NESTON

SJ3174 VILLAGE STREET, Burton Village 794-1/11/8 (South side) 22/03/74 Burton Manor and attached Orangery (College of Further Education) (Formerly Listed as: BURTON VILLAGE STREET (South side) Burton Manor)

GV II

Country house with attached Orangery, now College of Further Education. c1805 for Richard Congreve; remodelled 1904 by Sir Charles Nicholson for Henry Neville Gladstone, son of William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal Prime Minister. Orangery dated 1910 on rainwater head, by Arthur Beresford Pite. MATERIALS: ashlar and hammer-dressed red sandstone with hipped and sprocketed roof of green slates with tall ornate stacks of stone and brick. PLAN: quadrangular. EXTERIOR: entrance front: 5 bays; 2-storey open-pedimented bay in centre with two 3-storey bays to left, two 2-storey bays to right. End wall of service wing is set back at left. Entrance front bays are articulated by giant pilasters supporting eaves frieze beneath wide modillioned eaves. Entrance bay has semicircular arched porch rusticated in the Gibbs style between narrow lights of leaded glass roundels. Doors are teak, multi-glazed, beneath pulvinated transom panel filled with fruit and foliage and surmounted by fanlight of small leaded glass roundels behind wrought iron radial grille of stylised leaves within margin of metal roundels. Windows are sashes with glazing bars, long to public rooms to right, shorter to accommodate third storey to left. Gabled pediment encloses heraldic arms and inscription 'EIDE ET VIRTUTE' in tympanum. Right return: 2-storey front of 5 unequal bays with projecting left end bay and irregular fenestration. Left end bay has tripartite sash windows at both levels: windows in centre bays are sashes, those at first floor level with added louvre shutters. Wide bay at right end has a ground floor oculus, blank first floor. Garden front: 2-storey 5-bay front with single-storey orangery to right, masking end of service wing. Garden front has full-height 3-window canted bay at left end, similar 2-window square bay at right end: windows are sashes, those on first

floor with louvred shutters. Three centre bays have tripartite sashes at ground floor and paired sashes above. Orangery has 9 tall sash windows with pivoting top lights arranged in triplets, each centre light flanked by Ionic half columns standing on moulded plinth band. One triplet is repeated in left return with French doors in the centre. Right return has high level Diocletian window. The whole is surmounted by moulded cornice and plain parapet. Service wing: set back from both the Entrance and Garden fronts, it has two and three-storey sections and single-storey additions. INTERIOR: on ground floor, entrance hall: oak block floor, 6-panel porch doors, walnut veneered, 8-panel hardwood doors to rooms with panelled linings. Line of three centre piers which support semicircular arches with vine motif archivolts. Dentil cornices and wide coved and panelled ceilings with central bay leaf decoration. Staircase hall: vaulted ceiling with garland decoration to the semicircular panels over doors. Former Billiard Room, now Library: oak block floor, raised dais, fronting plain sandstone mantel between two Tuscan columns with high bases: panelled ceiling, based on vines with garlands of foliage and flowers. Former library, now the Film Room: red, green and white mantel, dentils, bead and reel and beads with bay leaf garland motif used in the cornice. studio: dentil cornice beneath panelled ceiling with bay leaf garland decoration. Former drawing room, now Congreve Room: marble mantel with Jacobean fluted surround, pilasters with foliate motif and acanthus caps, lozenge motif to fascia and bead and reel decoration to shelf edge: garland wall frieze, dentil cornice, reeded and ogee ceiling cornice: panelled ceiling with ellipse in bay with diamond panels to light fittings based on stylised roses: door openings flanked by plaster pilasters with flower, leaf and ribbon motifs to panels, acanthus caps, garland frieze and dentil bead and reel cornice. Former music room, now Gladstone Room: oak strip floor; 8-panel door. Marble mantel featuring diamond motif fascia, dentil edged shelf: flanking Ionic edge-rebated marble pilasters support frieze of scrolls, shields and acanthus leaves: central panel has vine decoration and a roundel with deer and tree embroidery. Gallery has central pier flanked by solid parapet with triple garland motif fronting segment-headed multi-glazed borrowed light to staircase. Cross vaulted ceiling with floral rib decoration. Former dining room, now lounge: walls framed into tall vertical panels above panelled dado: some dividing pilasters

are paired and have dentilled floral caps. Marble mantel with bead and reel and egg and dart surround flanked by panel pilasters with pear and pomegranate motifs: panels double above shelf level, with flower foliage motifs, flanking a vine ellipse. Pairs of 4-panel walnut doors flank the fireplace. Frieze of small garlands and small egg and dart crown mould. Dentil ceiling cornice frames elliptical bay leaf garland. The Fountain Court: chequered floor of black and white marble tiles. Windows on three sides are large radial-glazed round-headed sashes. Window arches and those to matching loggia arches are of roof tiles on edge with stone keyblocks. Windows at first floor level generally casements with glazing bars but a large Palladian window over the loggia serves the staircase. Staircase: panelled newels and openwork balustrade based on looped and other strapwork designs incorporating initials MEG and dated 1904. The upper quarter space landing has the Venetian window and there are galleries east, south and west. First floor ceiling is four intersecting coves with quatrefoil centre motif based on grapes and stylised leaves. At first floor, The Lichfield Room: 6-panel door; plain ceiling cornice, large elliptical panel to ceiling. The meeting room: retains evidence of early C19 house: fire grate in marble mantel with eared architrave and festoons to the shelf fascia based on vines: ceiling is divided into four by plastered beams with simple cornices. EXTRA INFORMATION: this large mansion is set in extensive grounds with a formal garden by TH Mawson. (Burton and South Wirral Local History Society: Burton in Wirral - A History: Burton: 1984-: 150-156, 191-205; Country Life: Country Homes and Gardens Old & New: Burton Manor, Cheshire: London: 1912-: 490 -).



Listing NGR: SJ3149774116

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

475794

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Burton, , South Wirral Local History Society, , Burton in Wirral A History, (1984), 150-156
Burton, , South Wirral Local History Society, , Burton in Wirral A History, (1984), 191-205
Country Life in Country Homes and Gardens Old and New: Burton Manor Cheshire, (1912), 490

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