The Bothy

Summary

Boiler-house and gardeners’ dormitory of the early 1840s by Edward Blore, of buff Hollington stone and red brick and with the chimney given the appearance of a beacon tower or lighthouse.

Reasons for Designation

The Bothy, a garden boiler-house with chimney and gardeners’ dormitory of the early 1840s, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Date and rarity: this is a good example of a large garden boiler-house and chimney, dating from early in the period when greater selectivity is applied;
* Architectural quality: a well-conceived decorative treatment of a functional building as an eye-catching beacon tower or lighthouse, executed with good detailing and with the inclusion of accommodation;
* Group value: for its functional relationship with and visual similarity to the garden cottage (List entry 1361711), and with the other estate buildings by the same architect;
* Degree of survival: retaining its essential character despite the loss of the chimney’s crown and other alterations;
* Historical interest: designed by the notable architect Edward Blore, and illustrating aspects of domestic social history.

History

The new Worsley Hall was built between 1839 and 1846 and designed by Edward Blore, who completed Buckingham Palace after the dismissal of John Nash. Blore also designed the walled garden for the new hall (completed in 1842), the head-gardener’s cottage (List entry 1067489) and the entrance gates, piers and walls (List entry 1162967). The boiler-house for the walled garden (named ‘engine house in garden’ on the plans for it) was designed at the same time and built shortly afterwards; it is not marked on the 1:10,000 Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1848 (surveyed 1845), but its chimney and boiler were essential to the heated walls. The boiler-house was designed to accommodate the Rochester boiler for heating the walled garden and adjacent glasshouses, and to provide accommodation for unmarried gardeners on the staff. These residents ensured that the boiler was kept fuelled and maintained. Accommodation comprised cubicles within the single-storey building abutting the chimney, with the boiler in the cellar.

The western two-storey extension was built early in the C20 (it is not marked on the 1908 OS map), possibly after the First World War when the bothy and gardens were leased to Arthur Upjohn. On Upjohn’s death in 1933 the bothy was leased to Wilfred Mather, who removed the cubicles when he created a family dwelling in the extended building. A small lean-to shelter was added to the rear of the building, but has been removed in the early C21. The original plans show the chimney with a decorative ogee crown, enhancing the appearance of a beacon-tower or lighthouse, but this is not present. The doorway in the E face is a lowered window, probably created when the western extension was built.

Details

Garden boiler-house with chimney and gardeners’ dormitory, early 1840s by Edward Blore for the 1st Earl of Ellesmere, with C20 alterations.

MATERIALS: buff Hollington sandstone and red brick with slate roofs.

PLAN: T-plan with single-storey cell abutted to the S by square chimney.

EXTERIOR: located to the N of the walled garden in the grounds of the former Worsley New Hall and aligned E-W. The original bothy is abutted to the W by a two-storey linear range (not included).

The E wall is of random, squared, rock-faced sandstone with a projecting ashlar plinth. At the right is a projecting, gabled section with square kneelers supported by consoles, and angled copings. In the gable is a blind arrow-slit window with ashlar surround quoined into the facing stonework. Below this is a doorway with a splayed lintel of soldier-stones, and rendered jambs; the door is vertically-boarded timber. Above the stone gable and set back is the brick gable* of the western extension. Set back to the left of the stone gable wall is the side wall of a lower, gabled rear outshut. This has a central blind arrow-slit window like that of the main gable. Set back beyond this outshut is the E face of the chimney. This has a tall square base which rises above the eaves of the outshut, with ashlar plinth, quoins and a modillion cornice. Above the base a low ashlar band supports the slightly-tapering rock-faced shaft, which has three vertically-aligned blind arrow-slit windows, with a string course and modillioned cornice at the crown.

Returning to the left, the S face of the chimney is the same as the E face. At the right, the S gable of the outshut has console kneelers and a short blind window, while below this is a three-light timber mullioned window with transom. To the left of the chimney, a lean-to outshut with a shallow roof has a two-light stone-mullioned window.

The left return of the bothy is obscured by the western extension. The W face of the chimney is visible to the right, and of the same appearance as the S and E faces. The N wall of the bothy is of brick but in Flemish bond, with two evenly-spaced, three-light timber mullioned and transomed windows and a low stone plinth. The roof is covered with large slates in diminishing courses. The N face of the chimney rises centrally above the lead ridge, and two of its three blind windows are visible. Towards the left, steps descend to the cellar door.

INTERIOR: a tall, plain single-height space with replacement light fittings*. In the SE corner partition walls* create a room whose southern half lies in the gabled rear outshut, with a large semi-circular-headed archway* accessing this space through the original solid wall. In the SW corner a doorway enters the lean-to outshut, which has a brick vaulted ceiling. There is a void between the two outshuts which was not accessible but is assumed to relate to the former functioning of the boiler. The ceiled roof space has trusses with collars and tie-beams, with inward-raking struts from the collar. The slate joints are torched with lime mortar. The inner skin of the W gable is of brick, with a slit-window corresponding to that on the E gable. The cellar reportedly retains the Rochester boiler used for heating the garden.

*EXCLUSIONS: pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the aforementioned items are not of special architectural or historic interest.

Sources

Books and journals
Garden Memoranda - Worsley Hall in Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, (1846), 807

Other
The Bothy At Worsley Hall Garden Centre, University of Salford Centre for Applied Archaeology report 09/2012, 2012
Mitchell, Dr Alexandra, Worsley New Hall: a Guide to Sources, University of Salford Library, 2012

End of official list entry

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