Description

SJ 67 NE GREAT BUDWORTH C.P. WARRINGTON ROAD
East Side

6/102 Belmont Hall

4/3/69

- I
Country House, now partly a school, 1755, initial design by James
Gibbs, altered during construction. Stone-dressed Flemish bond brown
brick; hipped slate roof. Main block has 3 storeys and 7 windows,
symmetrical with recessed screen wall and pavilion (that to left
rebuilt) to each side. Plain stone plinth and bands at 1st storey
cill, first floor and 2nd storey cill levels; moulded stone cornice
with flat 3-bay pediment bearing Smith Barry's arms and motto LEGES
JURAQUE SERVE; parapet, now rendered, with projecting stone coping.
6-panel door with fanlight, now without glazing bars, in plain,
slightly projecting 1-storey pedimented centrepiece of painted
rusticated stonework; 12-pane sash to hall in eared and shouldered
architrave to each side of door; round 2-storey brick bay window to
drawing room and principal bedroom left and to study and principal
bedroom right, each with 3 sashes per storey in eared and shouldered
architraves, having octagonal central panes in each sash (c.f.
Barlaston hall for Josiah Wedgewood, Staffordshire). Three 12-pane
sashes in eared and shouldered architraves to 2nd storey between the
bay windows, that at centre pedimented, those to sides with
entablatures. The bay windows are contemporary but not Gibbsian, of
header bond with moulded stone cornices and 4-course parapets with
plain stone copings. The 3rd storey has 7 squarer 12-pane casements
in eared and shouldered architraves without entablatures; brick
chimneys, symmetrically placed. Each wing wall has central
round-arched doorway in shouldered and eared timber architrave in
pedimented case of rusticated stone; 2 recessed 12-pane sashes in
round-arched recessed brick panels to each side of each porch.
6-panel door in right porch; left door removed; vase balustrades -
portion over right bay of left screen removed. Right pavilion,
formerly kitchen wing, has 2 storeys of 3 windows with 12-pane sashes
in plain stone architraves; pedimented gable facing end of house;
hipped graded grey slate roof; cupola at junction of ridges. The left
pavilion is rebuilt in simplified form as a gymnasium.
Left end elevation of main block has 3 window recesses per storey,
blank except central window to 3rd storey. Right end elevation has
short round-arched small-pane fixed light to lower landing and
basket-arched small-pane sash to upper landing of secondary stair. A
C19 room added to lower storey behind screen in right court. Damaged
late Georgian balustrade to forecourt, with urns on piers and pair of
panelled gateposts in each return, abuts inner corners of pavilions.
Plain garden front without projection or recession has lengthened
15-pane sashes to 1st storey, their cases accommodated in recesses in
the plinth, and 12-pane recessed sashes with rusticated keystone
lintels and projecting stone cills to the 2nd and 3rd storeys; central
door to garden in painted stone Gibbs surround, too narrow and
clumsily executed.
The interior justifies the grading, notably the plasterwork. Diagonal
stone flag floors to hall and stair hall; oak boards to other lower
storey rooms; 6-panel doors except replaced 4-panel door to stair,
most with fielded panels and shouldered architraves with pulvinated
entablatures; moulded skirtings and dado rails; embrasures with
shutters. Hall has round-arched panelled doorway to stair with
ornamental key; good rococo ceiling and ornate cornice; 2 doors to
each side; painted stone mantel with head of Bacchus, vines, grapes,
fruit, nuts and foliage in shouldered architrave; rococo plaster wall
panels. Front drawing room, left, lighter in treatment than hall has
good rococo wall panels and ceiling; mantel on classical figures left
and right of fireplace and flowers, foliage and fruits; fine onamental
panel with Chinese birds; rear drawing room, now more modest, formerly
had tapestries. Study right of hall is richly decorated with carved
mouldings to door-panels and architrave, carved skirting and dado
rail, corner pilasters to window bay; pedimented overmantel with
light, naturalistic flowers, foliage and fruit; coved cornice,
decorated with a delicate running pattern of festoons; plain ceiling.
Rear right room has inserted oak-panelled dado; heavy marble fireplace
with mantel on flower-decorated -pilasters and consoles; replaced
square-panelled ceiling with roses at intersections; the late Georgian
room in the right wing has blocked fireplace with 2 putti-heads
supporting mantel.
Hardwood open-well open-string stair of 3 flights has carved brackets,
moulded wreaths and ramped rail on 2 column-on-vase balusters per
step; polished hardwood dado; cornice on consoles; rococo wall-panels
including an outstanding stucco portrait medallion between the 2
windows; rococo ceiling. From landing short corridor leads to
secondary dog-leg stone stair, right, rising through 4 flights from
1st to 3rd storey, with oak rail on iron balusters, round-arched fixed
light to lower half landing and basket-arched sash to upper
half-landing.
Dressing-room over hall has coved cornice; iron fireplace with
neo-classical group of 3 female figures and child; mantel on ornate
architrave. Front bedroom, left, has rococo ceiling on ornate coved
cornice; replaced fireplace. Rear room left is altered to accommodate
stair to 3rd storey and pupils' lavatory. Front bedroom, right has
frieze and cornice; mantel on console-pilasters with classical figures
in panels of frieze. Rear room, right, has ornate mantel; frieze and
cornice. Room in right wing, altered to provide staff lavatory, has
frieze and cornice.
The 3rd storey has no features of special interest.

Listing NGR: SJ6548578340

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Belmont Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4884358

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)