Description

SJ 84 SW WHITMORE C.P. WHITMORE

6/190 Whitmore Hall

2/12/52

GV I

Country house. 1676 remodelling of a C16 house, with later additions
and alterations, principally of late C19. Timber frame now all encased
in red brick (English bond) with ashlar plinth, dressings and angle
quoins; plain tiled hipped roof. Original house probably an 'E'-plan,
now a rectangular block of 9 x 5 bays with later additions at right angles
to rear on left. Plain classical style with Artisan Mannerist detail.
South front: 2 storeys over cellars; ashlar string course and moulded
eaves cornice with brick and open stone balustrade; 9 bays, windows all
glazing bar sashes with gauged heads and projecting keystones, except
those to slightly projecting second, centre and eighth bays which have
moulded stone surrounds and carved classical heads in place of keystones;
ashlar cill band interrupted by dropped window cills on both ground and
first floors; central porch with date 1676 and the inscription "DEVANT
SI JE PUIS" on elaborately carved and decorated broken scroll-pedimented
south gable, is in fact a reconstruction of 1842; the gable was originally
placed over what is now the inner doorway, but was moved out when the
present porch, with internal frieze of naval trophies (probably by
James Trubshaw) and elaborate gables on east and west sides, was built;
the double 6-panel south door is largely late C17 but has been widened
to fit the larger C19 entrance; 2 prominent rectangular brick stacks in
roof slope with blind round-headed arches on each side, ashlar keystones,
imposts and capping. West side: now in bays with 3 windows on first
floor blocked and 2 blind vertical oval panels to string course; dormer-
lit attic; late C19 additions to left (see below) have truncated rest
of range. East front: in 5 bays, windows all glazing bar sashes, those
to 2 left-hand bays of ground floor blind; late C19 glazed door in
central bay and canted bay window occupying fourth and fifth bays of
ground floor. Plain north front also with prominent 3-window late C19
canted bay to left and altered fenestration to right and first floor
(glazing bar sashes with horns); dormer-lit attic. Extensive late
Victorian additions built at right angles to rear after a fire in
c.1880 had destroyed the back of the house; red brick of 2 and 3 storeys
with attic lit by pedimented half-dormers; windows mainly glazing bar
sashes with horns. Small service block attached (formerly housing
electricity apparatus and converted to domestic accommodation in mid-C20).
Interior: staircase with elegant turned balusters and entrance hall with
4 Corinthian pillars, forming screen at far end, probably by William Baker,
who carried out alterations for Edward Mainwaring, c.1756. The rooms on
the east side were knocked into one in late C19, which has a fine plaster
ceiling of that date. B.O.E., p.309; Country Life, June 6, 1957;
Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of English Architects, 1600-1840
(1978), p.84.

Listing NGR: SJ8109041266

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Whitmore Hall at Wikipedia
• Whitmore Hall official website
• Wikidata Q7996636

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)