Description

SJ 73 NE MAER

408/9/97 Maer Hall and attached garden
Wall to south (formerly listed
30.07.64 As Maer Hall)

GV II

Country house and garden wall. House: mid-C17, considerably altered and
extended mid-to-late C19 with the addition of wings by W. Culshaw and
later J. Francis Doyle of Liverpool, although now again reduced to its
original size. Mainly yellow sandstone ashlar on chamfered plinth,
stone slate roofs; the only original stonework is to the cellars (red
sandstone on east side), which also retain their original mullioned
openings. C19 work in Jacobean style. 2 and 3 storeys over cellars.
West garden front: 2 storeys with 3 shaped full dormers surmounted
by globe finials above moulded eaves cornice; 1:1:1:1:1 bays, windows
all mullioned and transomed, those to left and right dormers with stepped
lights; central 2-storeyed porch with round-headed doorway and applied
Doric columns, changing above to Ionic order; openwork balustrade to
top carried around eaves, connecting dormers; 2 sandstone ashlar stacks
behind ridge with paired rebated shafts. North front: 1:1:1 bays,
again with mullioned and transomed windows and shaped gabled dormers;
mid-C20 central single-storeyed porch with applied columns above.
East front: 2 storeys and attic storey plus a further lit roof space;
1:1:1:1 bays, also with mullioned and transomed windows but with 3
plain gables to attic storey, incorporating upper gable lights. Late
C19 flat-roofed porch (probably owing its present appearance to the
reduction of the Victorian work) against south side with a coped stone
garden wall attached to south. Interior: not inspected, but said
to have been considerably altered in 1960's when many of the Victorian
fittings were removed.
NOTE: Maer Hall was the home of Josiah Wedgwood the younger from 1804 to 1843. Josiah Wedgwood the elder's daughter Susannah was the the mother of Charles Darwin, who married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839. Charles Darwin was a frequent visiter to Maer Hall, where he is reputed to have made some of his early geological and botanical studies.
Maer Hall was also the home of F.J. Harrison, the Liverpool ship
owner, in late C19, and it was for him that Doyle extended the hall.
B.O.E., p. 201.

Listing NGR: SJ7920738332

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Maer Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q3276338

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

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)