Description

TARPORLEY

1035/0/10002 PARK ROAD
22-SEP-06 The Hearse House

II
Hearse house, 1869, 'Old English' style, single storey, red brick, slate roof, sandstone 'cross' finial.

Exterior: On N-S axis, red brick, set on plinth, pitched slate roof, red tile ridge copings, sandstone cross finial situated towards S gable end (possibly brought from the original hearse house adjacent to St Helen's), cast-iron rainwater goods, S gable end and entrance front directly onto Park Road. Main S elevation in English Garden Wall Bond brickwork with 1 header and 4 stretchers to lower part of elevation and 1 header and 3 stretchers above. Gable decorated with black and white timber frame detail, rendered brick, central 2-light mullion window with leaded glass divided into small panes. Substantial bargeboards above. Large central square-headed doorway with hinged doors. Originally possessed sliding doors (rail mechanism can still be seen internally). Plain side elevations, rear (N) elevation with central 3-light window, sandstone lintel and sill. Higher land to rear of building obscures lower half of rear elevation.

Interior: Whitewashed brick walls, cement floor with central drain, oak panelled ceiling follows pitch-line of roof and cuts straight across above window lintels.

HISTORY: The hearse house was constructed in 1869 following alterations carried out on the C15 Church of St Helen. The church was extended westwards, which necessitated the demolition of the previous hearse house that had abutted the church's W gable end. Consequently a new hearse house was required and the site of Park Road adjacent to the village fire station and original police station was selected, on land having been specifically provided for community use by the owner of nearby Ardene Hall, the 11th Earl of Haddington.
The hearse house was used to house the village horse-drawn hearse when the church carried out its own funeral arrangements, and remained in use well into the C20 until motor vehicles and private firms took over. Subsequently the building was used to house the fire station Land Rover after the station moved to High Street in the 1950s. Recently the building has been used as a store.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Tarporley hearse house dating to 1869 is a simple but elegant single storey Tudor style hearse house, which forms part of a small and unique group of civic buildings surviving in their original form including the 1909 former police station and 1865 fire station (one of the earliest volunteer fire brigade stations in the country) that were constructed in the village centre on land donated in the C19 by the 11th Earl of Haddington specifically for community use.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671116

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

• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)