Description

SJ 55 SW CHOLMONDELEY C.P. CHOLMONDELEY PARK

1/12 Cholmondeley Castle
10.6.52
GV II*

Mansion, 1801-4 by the first Marquis of Cholmondeley (with William
Turner of Whitchurch) but in 1817-19 Robert Smirke added a number of
towers and turrets and gave the building its present castle-like
appearance. Sandstone with lead and slate roof. Mainly 3 storeys and
basement with towers a little higher. The Entrance Front (West) has
3-bay wings which flank a 3 bay single storey loggia. There is also a
3-bay south-west tower wing. The wings have "Y" tracery windows with
splayed reveals and flush Gothick arches with keystones. The loggia
has pairs of lights with intersecting glazing bars in window openings
with almost circular heads. The "Y" tracery of the upper windows of
the Entrance Hall shows above the flat roof of the Loggia, with
intersecting glazing bars in the lights. The south-west section has a
square tower with windows, with intersecting glazing bars, at five
levels. This is linked to a slender octagonal turret, with arrow
slits, by a wall with blank openings. The Garden Front (east) has
north-east and south-east corner turrets and a large canted bay window
which continues upward as a half tower. The section left (south) of
the bay window is 2 storeys and 3 bays with cusped trefoil heads to
"Y" tracery windows. The 3-storey bay has French windows giving
access to the garden down eight steps. A 2-storey, 2-bay section with
"Y" tracery windows follows north and the slightly set forward, 3-bay,
Smirke service wing, with its north turret, completes the facade. All
main walls have wide projecting moulded cornices and crenellated
parapets. Towers and turrets have machicolations. Slated sections of
the roof have lead hips.
Interior: Access to the square 2-storey Entrance Hall is via the
Loggia through a pair of five panel doors flanked by sashes with
Gothick heads, "Y" tracery and intersecting glazing bars . The side
walls have triple blind arcades in wood panelling and the ceiling has
four inclined (hipped) surfaces. Opposite the entrance an open arcade
forms a passage running north to south and gives access to the
ante-room which has the large canted bay with full height "Y" tracery
windows containing pairs of French windows. This room has large
ten-panel doors in north and south walls and a matching double door
into the Entrance Hall passage. There is a simple dentil cornice.
The Dining Room is north of the Ante-room, approached through doors at
both sides of a panelled reveal which indicates the great thickness of
the wall. Here there is a marble mantel, a cornice of gilded fruit
and leaves with ceiling rosettes and a large ceiling rose with
chandelier. The Drawing Room, south of the Ante-room and again
through doors both sides of the wall, has a cornice of arrows pointing
down, in Lombard Frieze form, and a large ceiling rose with
chandelier. The Staircase Hall, off the Drawing Room, features the
Robert Bakewell balustrade to stairs and landing removed from the Old
Hall. This is fixed to an open-well staircase of black marble and has
a rosewood handrail . The stair-well has a lantern-light in a timber
ceiling with bracketted, coved cornice . The Nursery Wing (south) is
off the Staircase Hall, approached through a pair of four-panel
Gothick headed doors. This has six-panelled doors with wide panelled
linings. The Library, also at the south side of the house, has the
Lombard frieze style of cornice of arrows pointing downwards. A
building which has accepted the attempt to turn it into a castle but
still retains the character of the original Gothick Mansion.
Gervase Jackson-Stops in Country Life, 26 July 1973.

Listing NGR: SJ5365151343

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Cholmondeley Castle at Wikipedia
• Cholmondeley Castle official website
• Wikidata Q5104374

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

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)