Description

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SJ 88 NE
5/36

CHEADLE
MANCHESTER ROAD (north-east side)
Abney Hall

30.6.75

GV
II*

Large house now school of languages. North-west corner 1847 for A. Orrell, neo-Norman; south and south-east 1849 probably by Travis and Mangnall for James Watt, Tudor-Gothic; south-east corner 1894 by G. F. Armitage of Altrincham. Flemish bond brick with sandstone dressings and slate roof. Large irregular house with two storeys plus attics. Heavily enriched neo-Norman entrance portal with elaborate cusped arcade at first floor, neo-Norman niche and coped gable. Wings project slightly on either side and have large mullion and transom windows with arched (left) and cusped (right) lights, enriched band, continuous hoodmoulds, statue niches and pinnacled coped gables.

The garden elevation (south), apart from a series of seven irregular gables has square, triangular and polygonal bay windows, a two-storey bow window, gargoyles, weather-vanes, numerous elaborate chimney shafts and a five-bay single-storey addition of 1894 in ashlar with five stepped gables, mullion and transom windows and a large central niche.

Interior: even more sumptuous, the work carried out by J. G. Crace between 1852 and 1857, much of it to designs by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. Heavily carved open-well staircase with arched braces carrying a panelled ceiling. Landing lantern on ribs and tierceron ribs on the Ely octagon pattern. Drawing room with Puginesque richness, panelled pendant ceiling, papier-maché doorcases, white marble chimney piece and chandelier by Hardman. Music room with huge inglenook fireplace and heraldic stained glass of 1894. Generally a Puginian Gothic interior of extaordinary quality executed by Crace who may have been the greatest interior decorator of his day.

Listing NGR: SJ8595389237

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Abney Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4668166

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

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6