Mawdesley Hall

Mawdesley Hall
Mawdesley Hall
	Mawdesley Hall from the south
Coordinates	53°37′48″N2°45′40″W / 53.6301°N 2.7610°W Coordinates: 53°37′48″N2°45′40″W / 53.6301°N 2.7610°W
OS grid reference	SD 498 151
Built	17th century
Built for	William Mawdesley
Listed Building – Grade I
	Official name: Mawdesley Hall
Designated	2 October 1952
Reference no.	1164720
Listed Building – Grade II
	Official name: Entrance steps to Mawdesley Hall
Designated	2 October 1952
Reference no.	1164764
Listed Building – Grade II
	Official name: Cattle-house c.15 metres 22.10.52 north west of Mawdesley Hall
Designated	2 October 1952
Reference no.	1072503
	Location in the Borough of Chorley

Last updated April 23, 2019

Entrance steps to the garden of the hall Ancient steps - geograph.org.uk - 104264.jpg — Entrance steps to the garden of the hall

Mawdesley Hall is a country manor in Hall Lane, Mawdesley, Chorley, Lancashire, England. It consists of a central hall with two cross-wings. The central hall was built in the 17th century, its lower storey being timber-framed and its upper floor plastered and painted to resemble timber-framing. The cross-wings were added in the late 18th or early 19th century. The west wing is in sandstone, and the east wing is in brick with stone dressings. The hall is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.

Mawdesley is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England, which had a population of 1,702 at the 2011 Census.

The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The population of the Borough at the 2011 census was 104,155. It is named after its largest settlement, the town of Chorley.

Lancashire is a ceremonial county in North West England. The administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300 and an area of 1,189 square miles (3,080 km²). People from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians.

Location

Mawdesley Hall stands at the north end of the village of Mawdesley in an elevated position about 10 feet (3.0 m) or 12 feet (3.7 m) above the road. It is built on an outcrop of sandstone about 60 feet (18 m) from the road.^[1]

Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized mineral particles or rock fragments.

History

The original part of the hall was built in the 17th century and was the home of the Mawdesley family.^[1] Inside the hall the dates 1625 and 1655 are inscribed.^[2] Towards the end of the 18th or the beginning of the 19th century wings were added to each end of the original hall. Later a lean-to building was added to the rear of the hall.^[1]

Architecture

The building is in two storeys, and has an H-shaped plan, consisting of a two-bay central hall, with two two-bay cross-wings. The roof is covered in stone-coloured tiles, and is hipped over the fronts of the wings. Each part of the house is built in different materials.^[2] The central hall measures about 30 feet (9.1 m) across. Its lower storey is timber-framed with plaster panels on a stone plinth. The upper floor is jettied and is plastered, and is painted to give the appearance of timber-framing. Towards the right end of the lower storey is a doorway and to the left of this is a long mullioned and transomed window. In the upper floor are three casement windows that were inserted later. The left (west) wing projects forward by 8 feet (2.4 m), it is in red sandstone with yellow stone dressings, and has chamfered quoins. The windows have architraves with keystones, and sills on corbels. The right (east) wing projects forward by 9 feet (2.7 m), it is in brick with stone quoins, and contains square-headed windows.^[1]

In architecture, a bay is the space between architectural elements, or a recess or compartment. Bay comes from Old French baee, meaning an opening or hole.

A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus a hipped roof house has no gables or other vertical sides to the roof.

A mullion is a vertical or horizontal element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid support to the glazing of the window. Its secondary purpose is to provide structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Horizontal elements separating the head of a door from a window above are both a head jamb and horizontal mullion and are called "transoms".

Appreciation

Mawdesley Hall was designated as a Grade I listed building on 22 October 1952.^[2] Grade I is the highest of the three grades of listing, and is applied to buildings that are "of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important".^[3]

A listed building, or listed structure, is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland.

Associated structures

Entrance steps

Leading up from the road to the garden of the hall is a flight of eight sandstone steps that are dated 1653. They are protected on the outside by a sloping parapet with roll-moulded coping. The steps incorporate an enclosed viewing platform on an open-topped turret with loopholes on its sides. They were designed as a Grade II listed building on 22 October 1952.^[4] Grade II is the lowest of the grades of listing, and is applied to buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest".^[3]

A parapet is a barrier which is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian parapetto. The German equivalent Brüstung has the same meaning. Where extending above a roof, a parapet may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the edge line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a fire wall or party wall. Parapets were originally used to defend buildings from military attack, but today they are primarily used as guard rails and to prevent the spread of fires.

Molding (decorative) class of decorative elements in the ornamentation

Moulding, also known as coving(United Kingdom, Australia), is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster, but may be of plastic or reformed wood. In classical architecture and sculpture, the molding is often carved in marble or other stones.

Coping consists of the capping or covering of a wall.

Former cattle house

To the northwest of the hall is a former cattle house, which was later used as a store. It dates from the 16th or early 17th century, and is timber-framed on a high sandstone plinth, with a roof of stone-coloured tiles. It has four bays, with an outshut at the rear of the third bay. The panels are plastered and painted white. On each side there are four doorways. The cattle house wa also designated as a Grade II listed building on 22 October 1952.^[5]

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References

1 2 3 4 Farrer, William; Brownbill, J., eds. (1911), "'Townships: Mawdesley'", A History of the County of Lancaster, Victoria County History, University of London & History of Parliament Trust, 6, pp. 96–100, retrieved 21 February 2015
1 2 3 Historic England, "Mawdesley Hall (1164720)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 21 February 2015
1 2 Listed Buildings, Historic England, retrieved 3 April 2015
↑ Historic England, "Entrance steps to Mawdesley Hall (1164764)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 21 February 2015
↑ Historic England, "Cattle-house c.15 metres north west of Mawdesley Hall (1072503)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 21 February 2015