140–142 Hospital Street, Nantwich - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

140–142 Hospital Street, sometimes known as Hospital House, is a substantial townhouse in Nantwich

Nantwich

Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The town gives its name to the parliamentary constituency of Crewe and Nantwich...

, Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

, England, located on the south side of Hospital Street (at ). The building is listed at grade II. It was built in the late 16th century by John Crewe, a tanner

Tanning

Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...

, whose sons Randolph

Ranulph Crewe

Sir Ranulph Crewe was an English judge and Chief Justice of the King’s Bench.-Early life and career:...

and Thomas

Thomas Crewe

Sir Thomas Crewe , of Stene in Northamptonshire, was an English Member of Parliament and lawyer, and served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1623 to 1625....

both served as the Speaker of the House of Commons. The original timber-framed

Timber framing

Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

, close-studded

Close studding

Close studding is a form of timber work used in timber-framed buildings in which vertical timbers are set close together, dividing the wall into narrow panels...

façade has been concealed by alterations during the late 17th century; these include the addition of small-paned casement window

Casement window

A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a...

s, some of which contain old heraldic stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

. The building was further altered and extended in the 18th century, with the addition of two Gothic

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

-style entrances. Later occupants include the architect, Thomas Bower

Thomas Bower

Thomas Bower was an English architect and surveyor based in Nantwich, Cheshire. He worked in partnership with Ernest H. Edleston at the Nantwich firm, Bower & Edleston, which he founded in 1854. He is particularly associated with the Gothic Revival style of architecture.In 1883, Bower was living...

, and the building remains in residential use.

The present building is believed to stand on the site of the medieval Hospital of St Nicholas

Hospital of St Nicholas, Nantwich

The Hospital of St Nicholas was a medieval hospital for travellers, which gave its name to Hospital Street in the English town of Nantwich in Cheshire...

, which gives Hospital Street its name. Stone remains discovered in the garden have been associated with the hospital.

Hospital of St Nicholas

Historian James Hall tentatively identifies the existing building as standing on the site of the medieval Hospital of St Nicholas, which was established at the end of Hospital Street and gives the street its name. Founded by William Malbank, the first baron of Nantwich, in 1083–84, the hospice was a religious house which accommodated sick or infirm travellers and gave alms to the poor. It was dissolved in 1548; on 11 November of the following year, Edward VI

Edward VI of England

Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...

granted "a House and manse formerly called the Chapel of St. Nicholas", together with associated land and property, to Sir Thomas Bromley of Nantwich, a justice of the King's Bench

King's Bench

The Queen's Bench is the superior court in a number of jurisdictions within some of the Commonwealth realms...

. By 1569, Bromley had sold it to Richard Wright. The original site of the Wright's Almshouses

Wright's Almshouses, Nantwich

Wright's Almshouses is a terrace of six former almshouses now located on Beam Street in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The building was originally erected at the junction of Hospital Street and London Road in 1638 by Edmund Wright , Lord Mayor of London in 1640–41, and is listed at grade II*...

, built in 1638, was on part of the former hospice's land.

History of present building

The present building dates originally from the late 16th century, and was built by John Crewe (c. 1524–98), who is said to have been a tanner

Tanning

. The Crewes claimed descent from the de Crewe family, who owned the manor of Crewe (now Crewe Green

Crewe Green

Crewe Green is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies 1½ miles to the east of the centre of Crewe...

) in the 13th century. John Crewe married Alice Mainwaring, daughter of Hugh or Humphrey Mainwaring, and the house was probably built after their marriage. The Mainwarings were one of the prominent gentry families in Nantwich, having owned land there since the 14th century, and were also involved in the salt-making industry. John Crewe was the landlord of the property on Waterlode where the 1583 fire started "through negligence of undiscreet persons brewing", which destroyed much of the centre of the town, but spared the end of Hospital Street. Two of the couple's sons achieved national prominence in the legal profession and parliament. Randolph Crewe

Ranulph Crewe

Sir Ranulph Crewe was an English judge and Chief Justice of the King’s Bench.-Early life and career:...

became a judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

, member of parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

(MP), parliamentary Speaker and, briefly, Lord Chief Justice

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales

The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...

; he made a fortune from a successful practice in chancery

Court of Chancery

The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of...

and other London courts, and built the Jacobean

Jacobean architecture

The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...

mansion, Crewe Hall

Crewe Hall

Crewe Hall is a Jacobean mansion located near Crewe Green, east of Crewe, in Cheshire, England. Described by Nikolaus Pevsner as one of the two finest Jacobean houses in Cheshire, it is listed at grade I...

, in nearby Crewe Green. Thomas Crewe

Thomas Crewe

Sir Thomas Crewe , of Stene in Northamptonshire, was an English Member of Parliament and lawyer, and served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1623 to 1625....

also became a lawyer, MP and Speaker. John Crewe died in 1598 and was buried in Nantwich. A carved marble memorial in St Mary's Church

St Mary's Church, Nantwich

St Mary's Church, Nantwich, is in the centre of the market town of Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. It has been called the "Cathedral of South Cheshire" and it is considered by some to be one of the finest medieval...

described him as "Johannes Crewe ex antiquâ familiâ de Crewe oriundus, vir pius" ("John Crewe descended from the ancient family of Crewe, a pious man"); it was removed in 1729.
In the 1650s, "y^e Hospitall howse" or "St Nicholas Hospitall" was owned by the Wilbraham family; it was leased in 1655 to William Jackson, a tanner. Jackson kept a tannery at the end of Hospital Street, possibly on the site now known as the "old tanyard"; this might have earlier been John Crewe's tannery. Subsequent inhabitants of the house include the Goldsmith family (early 18th century) and the Caldwell family, later of Linley Hall, Talke

Talke

Talke is a village in the English county of Staffordshire, four miles northwest of Newcastle-under-Lyme.-Etymology:Its unusual name is derived from the even more unusual "Talk o' th' Hill" which means 'bush on top of the hill'...

, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

(late 18th century). The last of the Caldwell family is identified by Hall as the Scot described in Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...

's journal: "In my congregation there was (outside of the house in which I was boarded) hardly more than one family in which I could spend a leisure hour with much satisfaction, and that was Mr. James Caldwell's, a Scotchman." In 1883, the occupier was the architect, Thomas Bower

Thomas Bower

, who built offices at the east end of the house. In the course of these alterations, stone remains were discovered in the garden, which Bower identified as being part of a Norman

Norman architecture

About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

doorway, perhaps part of the original Hospital of St Nicholas.

Description

140–142 Hospital Street is one of a group of houses dating from the 15th and 16th centuries at the end of Hospital Street, which include Churche's Mansion

Churche's Mansion

Churche's Mansion is a timber-framed, black-and-white Elizabethan mansion house at the eastern end of Hospital Street in Nantwich, Cheshire, England...

, number 116

116 Hospital Street, Nantwich

116 Hospital Street is a substantial townhouse in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, located on the south side of Hospital Street . It is listed at grade II. The present building, of Georgian appearance, incorporates an earlier timber-framed house, which probably dates in part from the 15th century...

and The Rookery

The Rookery, Nantwich

The Rookery, or 125 Hospital Street, is a substantial Georgian townhouse in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. It is located at the end of Hospital Street, on the north side, at the junction with Millstone Lane . The existing building dates from the mid 18th century and is listed at grade II; English...

(number 125). It is a timber-framed

Timber framing

building with a predominantly rendered

Stucco

Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...

finish under a tiled roof. It has three bays to the main front face and two storeys with attics. An 18th-century extension on the east (left) side is in painted brick and faces onto a passageway; the rear of the building also dates from the 18th century. The upper storey overhangs to form a continuous jetty

Jettying

Jettying is a building technique used in medieval timber frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of increasing the available space in the building without obstructing the street...

along the front façade. A common urban design, this was an unusual layout for a Nantwich mansion; other examples had a central hall with flanking wings as, for example, at Churche's Mansion

Churche's Mansion

Churche's Mansion is a timber-framed, black-and-white Elizabethan mansion house at the eastern end of Hospital Street in Nantwich, Cheshire, England...

, a few houses up the street. The Hospital Street face was originally close studded

Close studding

Close studding is a form of timber work used in timber-framed buildings in which vertical timbers are set close together, dividing the wall into narrow panels...

, that is, decorated with closely spaced upright timbers, as at the Crown Hotel

Crown Hotel, Nantwich

The Crown Hotel, also known as the Crown Inn, is a timber-framed, black-and-white hotel and public house located at 24–26 High Street in the town of Nantwich in Cheshire, England. The present building dates from shortly after 1583...

on the High Street. The timbering was covered in the late 17th century, giving the building its current 17th-century appearance.

The main entrance, in the Gothic

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

style, dates from the late 18th century. Stone steps lead to the door, which is headed by an ogee

Ogee

An ogee is a curve , shaped somewhat like an S, consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite senses, so that the ends are parallel....

-arched moulding, with paired quatrefoil

Quatrefoil

The word quatrefoil etymologically means "four leaves", and applies to general four-lobed shapes in various contexts.-In heraldry:In heraldic terminology, a quatrefoil is a representation of a flower with four petals, or a leaf with four leaflets . It is sometimes shown "slipped", i.e. with an...

decorations above surmounted by a cornice

Cornice

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...

. Nikolaus Pevsner

Nikolaus Pevsner

Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...

describes the entrance as "pretty". This entrance is flanked by 17th-century casement window

Casement window

s; there are three casement windows on the first floor and three gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

d dormer

Dormer

A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...

windows with casements, dating from the late 17th century. All the casements have a lattice of small panes, headed by a circular pattern. The three first-floor casements contain old stained glass

Stained glass

displaying the Crewe and Mainwaring coats of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

. The main section of the house also has four sash window

Sash window

A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...

s to the ground floor, dating from the late 18th century.

The 18th-century east bay has another Gothic-style entrance on the east face, which duplicates the main entrance. It has sash windows to the ground and first floors, on both the Hospital Street and east faces.

Sources

de Figueiredo P, Treuherz, J. Cheshire Country Houses (Phillimore; 1988) (ISBN 0-85033-655-4)
Garton E. Nantwich, Saxon to Puritan: A History of the Hundred of Nantwich, c 1050 to c 1642 (Johnson & Son Nantwich; 1972) (ISBN 0950273805)
Hall J. A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester (2nd edn) (E. J. Morten; 1972) (ISBN 0-901598-24-0)
Lake J. The Great Fire of Nantwich (Shiva Publishing; 1983) (ISBN 0-906812-57-7)
Lamberton A, Gray R. Lost Houses in Nantwich (Landmark Publishing; 2005) (ISBN 1-84306-202-X)
Pevsner N, Hubbard E. The Buildings of England: Cheshire (Penguin Books; 1971) (ISBN 0-14-071042-6)
Stevenson PJ. Nantwich: A Brief History and Guide (1994)

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