Description

SJ 63 NE NORTON IN HALES C.P. -

6/128 Tunstall Hall (formerly
10.2.59 list as Tunstall Hall
Girls School)

II*

Small country house now old peoples' home. Circa 1732. Red brick
with painted sandstone dressings. 2-span hipped plain tile roof.
Double-pile plan. 3 storeys. Chamfered stone plinth, flat string
course between ground and first floors, first-floor cill string, moulded
stone cornice and parapet (rebuilt or repointed in C20) with stone coping.
4 brick stacks with stone copings, 2 to front, one to left-hand side,
and one to rear. North-west (entrance) front: 9 bays; glazing bar
sashes, those to second floor with moulded architrave , to first floor with
lugged moulded architrave, frieze and cornice, and to ground floor with
bracketed cill, lugged moulded architrave, frieze and triangular pediment.
Central pair of doors with 4 raised and fielded panels and stone doorcase
consisting of moulded architrave, hollow-panelled pilaster strips, frieze
and console brackets supporting segmental pediment. 3 stone steps up
to doors with flanking plain wrought-iron railings. Right-hand return
front: 1:3 bays, ground-and first-floor glazing bar sashes to right
with stone cills and gauged-brick heads with raised stone keystones.
Full-height canted bay to right with recessed segmental sections at angles
between straight sections to front and sides. Glazing bar sashes with
painted stone cills and lintels (ground-floor sashes extending to floor
level). Lead downpipe in angle to right with plain lead rainwater head.
5 bay left-hand return front with second-floor keyed glazing bar sashes.
South-east (garden) front: 9 bays; glazing bar sashes with painted stone
cills and gauged-brick heads with raised keystones (ground-floor sashes
extending to floor level). Central pair of French casements with 6-
pane rectangular overlight and Gibbs surround,5-part keystone, pulminated
frieze and triangular pediment. 6 red sandstone steps up to door.
Service block to north-east: early C19. Two storeys. Coped parapet.
2-span roof with pairs of brick ridge stacks and external brick end
stacks. 5 bays to front and 3 bays to rear; glazing bar sashes with
painted stone cills and slightly segmental glazing bar sashes. Interior:
mainly early C20, some rooms redecorated in the mid-C19. Entrance hall:
full-height square room, articulated by 2 implied orders. Ground-floor
triglyph frieze with guttae and alternating paterae and other motifs including
buchrania, trophies etc., and moulded cornice. Raised and fielded first-
floor panelling above and enriched upper frieze with bead and reel and
other ornament, and a modillion cornice with egg and dart enrichment and
alternating paterae. Ceiling has oval panel with bold guilloche ornament
and central rose with acanthus ornament. First-floor gallery to rear
with turned balusters and panelled square dies, panelled soffit with
egg and dart enrichment, and triglyph frieze to front, supported at each
end on Doric pilasters. Ground-floor frieze continued into corridors
beyond hall. 3 ground-floor doors at rear and doorways at each end
of gallery. Windows with moulded architraves, those to first floor
with enriched mouldings and panels between and beneath. Ground-floor
shutters with raised and fielded panels. Fireplace to left with heavy
eared stone architrave and panel above with quadrant corners; chimney-
breast with double-quirked corners. Main staircase to right of hall:
C18. Four flights around square well with landings, open string with
cut brackets, 2 turned balusters per tread (some C20 replacements), moulded
handrail and wreathed foot newel with symmetrical vase-shaped newel post.
Panelled plaster soffit. Inserted mid-C19 staircase to left of entrance
hall. Left-hand ground-floor front room: mainly mid-C19. Dado rail
with Greek key ornament and moulded cornice. Fireplace with reeded
surround. Elliptical-arched niche with panelled reveals, moulded architrave
and continuous impost band with swags. Left-hand ground-floor rear
(dinding) room: mainly mid-C19. Enriched plaster frieze with anthemion
and palmette ornament; 3-panelled ceiling divided by wide bands of vive
trails with acanthus edging. C19 marble fireplace surround. Central
ground-floor rear room: C19 Jacobean-style panelling with fluted frieze.
Mid-C19 marble fireplace surround. Ground-floor right-hand end room:
bay segmental on inside (see exterior). Enriched plaster frieze with
egg and dart ornament and soffit with scrollwork. Central ceiling panel
with acanthus edging and central plaster rose with scrollwork; outer
band with square panels, each with central patera and anthemion border.
Mid-C19 marble fireplace. Each doorway with lugged architrave, frieze
and cornice. 6-panelled doors throughout with moulded architraves and
windows with panelled shutters. First-floor rooms not inspected.
Tunstall hall stands within a small wooded park. B.o.E., p. 305.

Listing NGR: SJ6905835368

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17541576

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)