Description

SK 04 SW CHEADLE CHERRY LANE

1663-0/6/10001 Woodhead Hall

II

Country house; used as Government Communications Establishment, CSOS Cheadle. Dated
1873, by William Sugden of Leek and built for William Allen, a Manchester merchant; late C20
extensions. Flemish bond red brick with stone dressings. Slate hipped roof with lead roll hips
and ridge and moulded stone modillion cornice. Brick axial stacks with stone strings and caps.
PLAN: Large double-depth plan house with central stairhall. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and cellar.
Symmetrical 2:2:2 bay south front, the centre with pediment breaks forward; pediment contains
oval plaque inscribed WSA:1873:EPA. Ground floor 2-light sashes in slightly advance pilastered
bays with colonnettes, moulded extrados and balustrades above. Steps up to similarly decorated
central doorway with side lights and columns and large shaped stone brackets supporting
balustraded balcony. First floor sashes with moulded stone eared architraves with cills on small
brackets. All sashes without glazing bars. Stone weathering to plinth and four stringcourses
continuing around the house. Rear north has wide pedimented centre bay with 3-light bay on
the ground floor, canted above and flanked by narrow 2-storey square bays. The west side has
three canted 2-storey bays. The elaborate twisted cast-iron drainpipes are C20 facsimiles of the
originals. West and north elevations have C20 single-storey extensions. INTERIOR is largely
intact and is richly decorated. Entrance vestibule has Ionic arcaded screen to large rectangular
central stairhall with fine timber staircase with moulded balusters and string, panelled soffit and
newels with ball finials; the balustrade continues around the landing which has an arcade at the
east end with Jacobean style columns; moulded cornice, panelled coving and large rectangular
lantern. The principal rooms have moulded plaster ceilings and pilastered window architraves
with shutters, but most of the chimneypieces have been removed. Back staircase in east side of
house has moulded balusters. NOTE: The house is said to be on the site of a house built in
1720, the cellar of which survives below the existing house.

Listing NGR: SK0248444804

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Woodhead Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q18163256

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

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)