History

Substantial late-Victorian country mansion of 1883 by the architect Edmund Kirby of Liverpool. The attached Sacred Heart Chapel, also by Kirby, was added in 1885. Kirby was responsible for several RC churches in South Lancashire and Cheshire.

Exterior

Large late C19 country mansion with attached private Roman Catholic chapel. Snecked rubble with freestone dressings; dentil eaves band and polychrome banding to upper walls; steeply pitched slate roofs with tall axial red-brick chimney stacks and hipped dormers. Two storeys with attic. Windows are mostly horned sashes with large plate-glass panes, but there are a few mullion and transom windows on subsidiary elevations. S front is asymmetrical with main house (left) and additions including chapel (right). House has large polygonal bay window with tall conical roof and lucarne (left) and a large canted bay window with belvedere (right). On ground floor, between these two bays, is a long verandah with tiled roof. Further right is a smaller polygonal bay window, then a projecting gable with triple lancet, and far right the later C19 addition with big off-centre gable. Main entrance is on the N side with doorway set under a bracketed hood in a projecting gabled bay. Set back to left is the hipped roof of the stair tower. On extreme left is later C19 gabled wing incorporating great pyramidal roofed tower with louvred belfry. W elevation has gabled bay to left and polygonal bay of S front to right.

Interior

Interior not seen at time of resurvey, but the February 1994 listing describes the special interest of the richly furnished and painted High Victorian Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart. ‘A rectangular full-height chapel with projecting sanctuary, the E wall of which has extensive dressed stone detail. Cusped, full-height, rere-arch to circular window which has good coloured glass; this window is divided into cusped quadrants by a huge crucifix, at the base of which are the two Mary's against a foliage background. Below that is a crenellated reredos with central canopied tabernacle and marbled colonettes; diaper ornamentation to base. Altar table stands on three marbled columns with waterholding bases; piscina and aumbry. The sanctuary arch is flanked by statues of the holy family and the reveals of the arch have St Gregory and St Augustine. The rest of the chapel has stencilled and coloured walls; the stained glass is unsigned. The wagon roof is divided into square panels each of which is painted with religious subjects including the Sacred Heart. Vestry to north retains original furnishings. At the W end is a timber-fronted gallery and beyond that a ‘viewing box' (which opened off Reginald Vaughan's bedroom, allowing him to follow Mass when sick). The architecture of the rest of the house includes some heavily carved Jacobethan chimneypieces and a dog-leg staircase with twinned newels.'

Reasons for Listing

Included primarily for the special interest of the lavishly decorated chapel, in this form a scarce feature of Victorian country houses.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29492234

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

• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
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  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)