Description

SUTTON UPON TERN C.P. NEWPORT ROAD (west
SJ 63 SE side)

3/119 Pell Wall
7.11.62 and 20.8.71
GV II*

Small country house, now derelict. 1822-8 by Sir John Soane for his friend
Purney Sillitoe. Altered and enlarged c.1861 for Martin Harcourt Griffin
and further altered and enlarged c.1901. Grey sandstone ashlar with some
additions in rendered brick. Hipped slate roof. Square villa, extended
to east and south-east in the same style. 2 storeys and attic over basement.
North-east (entrance) front: rusticated basement, plinth, pilaster strips
with incised ornament, incised band at ground-floor impost level, moulded
cill string, and moulded cornice and frieze with incised Greek key ornament.
Parapet with balustrading to centre, segmental panels over end bays, and dies
with incised ornament and pendentive-dome shaped finials. Central C19 flat-
roofed dormer. 3 bays; glazing bar sashes with panelled cills; ground floor
sashes set in round-arched recessed panels with incised ornament. Central
entrance altered c.1901. Three steps up to doorway (half-glazed doors stored
inside at time of survey - May 1986) with moulded architrave, flanking guilloche
ornamented pilaster strips, frieze and cornice on scrolled brackets, round-
arched tympanum with carved ornament and central roundel with wrought-iron
lamp, and recessed rusticated outer arch. Ionic porch with paired columns
on pedestals, entablature breaking forward over columns and with paterae to
frieze, and balustraded parapet. North-west front: 1:3:1 bays. Details
similar to entrance front except for central full-height bow with fluted band
between floors. 3 Dormers. South-west (garden) front: 5 bays. Astylar.
Incised fret ornament between floors. Parapet with segmental panels to centre
3 bays. 3 dormers. South-east range: mid-C19. Two storeys. 4:1:4 bays.
Incised fret ornament between floors. Central break with pair of half-glazed
doors in round-arched surround with blind tympanum and incised ornament.
First-floor panel of incised ornament above and stack consisting of 2 square
shafts with incised ornament flanking small attic window, moulded cornice
and dome-shaped caps. 3-bay left-hand return and 2-bay right-hand return,
both with stacks consisting of 2 square shafts with incised ornament flanking
small attic window. Service block to south-east: 2 storeys. South-west
front of 1:2:1:2:3 bays with incised Soanian ornament. North-west front
forms the side of the entrance court. Interior: mainly remodelled c.1861
but still retaining some of Soane's work. Barrel-vaulted entrance hall with
Ionic pilasters and panelled ribs. Small dining room on ground-floor to
right with Soanian splayed cross-vault ceiling. Formerly top-lit central
hall with gallery on 4 sides supported on Ionic columns. Curious staircase
contrived in bow of Soane's drawing room consisting of 2 pairs of separate
curved flights rising behind a mirror (now removed) set above a fireplace.
The lower flights are vaulted. Rich plasterwork to walls including pilasters,
cornices and first-floor pedimented doorcases. Ground floor of south-west
wing contains suite of 2 sumptuously ornamented reception rooms flanking central
lobby. Two pairs of large 4-panelled doors with scrolled brackets supporting
cornice above. Each room with plaster panels, enriched cornice and coving
to panelled plaster ceiling. 4-panelled doors with doorcases consisting
of enriched moulded architrave, fluted frieze and open triangular pediment.
Fireplaces removed. The south-east wing is said to have contained a swimming
pool, in the range flanking the approach. The first-floor rooms of the house
were not inspected. Pell Wall was Soane's last country house commission.
He wrote: "In composing the plans of this villa my best energies have been
exerted, intending that, when it was completed my professional labours should
cease." Sillitoe was prepared to spend £10,000
on it. The builder was John Carline of Shrewsbury. Correspondence and
drawings concerning the house are preserved in the Soane Museum. Since the
inspection from which this description was made there has been a fire at Pell
Wall. Some features mentioned here might not now exist. B.O.E. Staffordshire,
pp. 219-20; Architectural Monographs, John Soane, London and New York, p. 101
(ill) and p. 107; Marcus Binney, Our Vanishing Heritage, London, pp.31-7; Tithe
map of Drayton-in-Hale Parish (1838), Shropshire Records Office, 2885/4-5.

Listing NGR: SJ6798133191

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Pell Wall Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7161504

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)