The Chantry House, also known as the Chantry Priests' (or Priest's) House and formerly the Old School House, is a medievalhalf-timbered or "black-and-white" house, dating from around 1527,[nb 1] in Bunbury, Cheshire, England. It was originally associated with the chantry chapel in the nearby parish church of St Boniface, founded by Sir Ralph Egerton. After the chantry's dissolution, it became associated with Thomas Aldersey's grammar school. The Chantry House is an early surviving example of a residential timber-framed building in Cheshire, with many typically medieval features. It is listed at grade II* for "the quality of framing throughout."[1]
Sir Ralph Egerton (also Raufe or Rafe; before 1476–1528) – standard bearer to Henry VIII, who awarded him the nearby manor of Ridley – commissioned a chantry chapel to be added to St Boniface's Church in Bunbury. The chantry (known as the Ridley Chapel) was begun by 1527, but remained incomplete at Egerton's death in 1528, and was finished under the provisions of his will.[2][3][4][5] The Chantry House was built at the same time to house two chantry priests,[2][3][5] who were "to pray for his Soul, his Father and Mother's Soul, with all other Souls of his kin, and all Christian Souls forever."[6] According to Egerton's will, the Chantry House was to be constructed with stone and roofed in Welsh slate, and was to have two rooms, a parlour and a buttery–kitchen. The chantry was endowed with mills at Nantwich and a salt house.[6][7] After Edward VI dissolved the chantries in 1547,[8] the Chantry House was granted by the crown to Thomas Bromley of Nantwich in 1549.[9] The chantry's value at the time of its dissolution was estimated to be £12 2shillings.[3]
The property was subsequently acquired by Thomas Aldersey (1521/2–98), a successful London merchant and haberdasher who had been born and educated in Bunbury, possibly at the Chantry House, and whose family had a house in the adjacent parish of Spurstow.[5][10] In 1575 he founded a school in Bunbury, which was incorporated as a free grammar school on 2 January 1594, under the name "The Free Grammar School of Thomas Aldersey in Bunbury".[5][8][10][11] Aldersey gave the grammar school to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, of which he was a prominent member.[3][5][10] It was the first school that the Company of Haberdashers administered.[10][12] Among the school's endowments was the 2000-year lease to its governors, dated 31 March 1595, of the Chantry House, together with other land and properties in Bunbury, for "the rent of a red rose".[11][13][14] The school either used the Chantry House as its school house[3] or was built adjacent to it,[5][15] with the Chantry House being used as the schoolmaster's house and to house boarders.[5][13]
The grammar school moved to a new building on School Lane in 1874, and is now Bunbury Aldersey School.[3][5][16] The Chantry House was restored and extended in the 1970s by Cecil F. Wright.[2][17] It is now a private residence.[1][3][5]
Description
The Chantry House is located at SJ5683757958 on Wyche Road in Bunbury, Cheshire, immediately south of St Boniface's Church. It is listed at grade II*,[1] a grade which recognises "particularly important buildings of more than special interest."[18] It was formerly known as the Old School House.[17]Earthworks, possibly representing foundations of formerly associated buildings, lie to the east of the existing building.[3] The original three-bay, two-storey, timber-framed house rests on a sandstoneplinth, with a slate roof.[2] The introduction of an upper storey is a late-medieval feature in Cheshire buildings.[19] The windows are not original; they have mullions and transoms, and contain leaded glass. An additional wing to the south was added in the 1970s.[1][2]
The timber frame is close studded, with the vertical timbers placed particularly close together. The east face has a jettiedgable.[1][2] The intervening panels are plastered.Horizontal rails are absent from the exterior frame, except as needed to frame windows. This is typical of medieval timber framing. Unusually, two different types of bracing are present. Curved tension braces, starting from the horizontal ground sill, are found on the ground floor; these are rare in Cheshire, being more commonly found in south-east England.[20] The first floor features arch braces, which start from vertical timbers and go up to meet the wall plate; these are typical of the Midlands variety of timber framing. Both forms of brace are large.[1][21] In later close-studded or decorative-framed buildings these braces were typically concealed or omitted.[21]
The Chantry House is an early surviving example of a residential timber-framed building in Cheshire.[21] Its framing is similar to that of Gawsworth Old Rectory, a 15th-century Cheshire house also built to accommodate a priest, which combines close studding with arch bracing, but lacks the Chantry House's tension braces. Both Cheshire buildings include more horizontal timbers than comparable buildings in the south east, such as the Guildhall and Wool Hall of Lavenham, Suffolk, which Cheshire buildings expert Laurie McKenna considers might indicate the beginning of the development of a distinct Midlands style of timber framing.[21]
The timber frame to the interior includes a horizontal middle rail. The beams are deeply bevelled and the bevelled joists resemble planks, both features typical of medieval timbering.[19] There are four Tudor-arched fireplaces in stone, surmounted by very large lintels.[2] On the first floor, part of the original oak panelling has survived, and includes internal doors, one of which has retained its original hinges.[1]
Bunbury is a village in Cheshire, England, south of Tarporley and north west of Nantwich on the Shropshire Union Canal. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 1,195.
The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, is an ancient merchant guild of London, England associated with the silk and velvet trades.
St Boniface's Church stands prominently in the village of Bunbury, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The church dates mainly from the 14th century. Its features include the Ridley chapel, the alabaster chest tomb of Sir Hugh Calveley and the tomb of Sir George Beeston. Raymond Richards, author of Old Cheshire Churches, considers it is architecturally one of the most important examples of its period in Cheshire. Alec Clifton-Taylor includes it in his list of 'best' English parish churches, and Simon Jenkins assigns it two stars in his book England's Thousand Best Churches. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Malpas. Its benefice is combined with that of St Jude, Tilstone Fearnall.
Churche's Mansion is a timber-framed, black-and-white Elizabethan mansion house at the eastern end of Hospital Street in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The Grade I listed building dates from 1577, and is one of the very few to have survived the Great Fire of Nantwich in 1583.
Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It contains 132 listed buildings and structures, with three classified as grade I, seven as grade II* and 122 as grade II. In the United Kingdom, the term "listed building" refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance. There are three grades: grade I denotes buildings of outstanding architectural or historical interest, grade II* denotes particularly significant buildings of more than local interest, and grade II includes buildings of special architectural or historical interest. Buildings in England are listed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport on recommendations provided by English Heritage, which also determines the grading. This list includes the listed buildings and structures within the boundaries of the civil parish of Nantwich.
Peckforton is a scattered settlement and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The settlement is located 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to the north east of Malpas and 7.5 miles (12.1 km) to the west of Nantwich. The civil parish covers 1,754 acres (710 ha), with an estimated total population of 150 in 2006. The area is predominantly agricultural. Nearby villages include Bulkeley to the south, Beeston to the north, Higher Burwardsley to the west, Spurstow to the east and Bunbury to the north east.
Spurstow is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, which is located 6½ miles to the north west of Nantwich. The parish also includes the settlement of Spurstow Sketh and part of Radmore Green. The total population is a little over 400 people. Nearby villages include Bunbury, Haughton and Peckforton. The parish is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and contains a salt spring, which was formerly used as a spa.
Poole is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, which lies to the north west of Nantwich and to the west of Crewe. The Shropshire Union Canal runs through the parish. Nearby villages include Acton, Aston juxta Mondrum, Barbridge, Stoke Bank, Rease Heath and Worleston.
Close studding is a form of timber work used in timber-framed buildings in which vertical timbers (studs) are set close together, dividing the wall into narrow panels. Rather than being a structural feature, the primary aim of close studding is to produce an impressive front.
The Crown Hotel, also known as the Crown Inn, is a timber-framed, black-and-white hotel and public house located at 24 High Street in the town of Nantwich in Cheshire, England. The present building dates from shortly after 1583. One of three buildings in Nantwich to be listed at grade I, the listing describes the Crown Hotel as "an important late C16 building."
The Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire, excluding those in the city of Chester, total around 80. Almost half of these are churches that are contained in a separate list.
Bunbury Aldersey School is a 5–11 mixed, Church of England primary school with academy status in Bunbury, Cheshire, England. It is located in the Diocese of Chester and recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
The Wilbraham's Almshouses, also known as the Wilbraham Almshouses, are six former almshouses in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, located on the north side of Welsh Row at numbers 112–116. Founded by Sir Roger Wilbraham in 1613, they were the town's earliest almshouses. They remained in use as almshouses until 1870, when they were replaced by the adjacent Tollemache Almshouses. The timber-framed building, which is listed at grade II, was subsequently used as a malthouse and as cottages, and was later considerably altered to form a single house. The Hospital of St Lawrence, a medieval house for lepers, might have been situated nearby.
The Widows' Almshouses, also known as the Wilbraham or Wilbraham's Almshouses and as the Widows' Hospital, are former almshouses for six widows in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. They are located at numbers 26–30 on the north side of Welsh Row, on the junction with Second Wood Street. The almshouses were founded by Roger Wilbraham in 1676–7 in memory of his deceased wife in three existing cottages built in 1637; they were the earliest almshouses in the town for women. In 1705, Wilbraham also founded the Old Maids' Almshouse for two old maids in a separate building on Welsh Row. They remained in use as almshouses until the 1930s. The timber-framed Widows' Almshouses building, which is listed at grade II, has subsequently been used as a café, public house, night club, restaurant, wine bar and hotel.
Regent House and Warwick House together form a large timber-framed building, probably dating from the late 16th century, in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. Regent House occupies numbers 12 and 14, and Warwick House numbers 16 and 18a, on the west side of the High Street ; Regent House occupies a bend in the street which reflects the town's Norman castle. The building was probably constructed shortly after the fire of 1583. Regent House and Warwick House are listed separately at grade II.
Calveley Church is in the village of Calveley, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican church in the parish of St Boniface, Bunbury, the deanery of Malpas, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the diocese of Chester. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
Sweetbriar Hall is a timber-framed, "black and white" mansion house in the town of Nantwich, Cheshire, England, at 65 and 67 Hospital Street. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.
Bunbury is a civil parish in Cheshire East, England. It contains 31 buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated listed buildings. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, the highest grade, one is listed at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II. The parish contains the settlements of Bunbury, Bunbury Heath, and Lower Bunbury, with surrounding countryside. Many of the listed buildings are houses, cottages, farmhouses and farm buildings, some dating back to the 17th century and timber-framed. The other buildings are a church and associated structures, a public house, a former school, an active school, and a watermill.
Thomas Aldersey was an English merchant, haberdasher, member of Parliament and philanthropist. A contemporary description placed him among the "wisest and best merchants in London", and he was particularly known for his efforts to set the Protestant colony of Emden on a secure trade footing. His charitable works included the establishment of a free grammar school at his birthplace of Bunbury in Cheshire.
Sir Ralph Egerton of Ridley, Cheshire was an English soldier knight.
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