Poole Hall
Encyclopedia
Poole Hall is a Regency
mansion at Poole
, near Nantwich
in Cheshire
, England. It dates from 1812–17 and is listed at grade II*. Nikolaus Pevsner
considered the interior to be "exceptionally fine". The hall is a private residence and is not open to the public.
in Norfolk
. The present hall was built in 1812–17 for their second son, also William Massey, possibly to the design of Lewis Wyatt
.
The Massey family retained ownership of the hall until around 1900. Towards the end of the 19th century it was rented out; tenants included the cricketer A. N. Hornby
, as well as his father, William Henry Hornby, MP for Blackburn
. Sir William Holland
, MP, was living in the hall in 1904.
After several changes of ownership, the hall was purchased in 1988 by Tony Hill, a property developer, who undertook restoration work on the house and also enlarged the estate from 27 acres (109,265.2 m²) to 168 acre (0.67987248 km²). An avid collector, Hill used the house and its outbuildings to display his extensive collection of antiques, collectibles and cars. Antiques expert Paul Hayes
described the collection as including "dozens of teas-maids, lamp stands, mannequins, toy robots, an old pinball machine and ... a stag's head". The car collection included Keith Richards
' Bentley
, nicknamed "Blue Lena". Hill sold the estate in 2007.
columns. The entrance door is flanked by pilaster
s and has a fluted
frieze
. The south side features a prominent canted
bay window
. The corner finial
s to the parapet
are carved in the form of pineapples.
described the hall's Regency
interiors as "exceptionally fine". The four-bay drawing room has a shallow tunnel-vaulted
ceiling, panelled in rectangles and octagons and decorated with foliage scrolls, and a frieze with gilt palmette
s. At the west side of the room, a screen of two unfluted columns and two Corinthian
pilasters supports a decorative beam. The marble Grecian chimneypiece
incorporates two female figures. Pevsner described the ceiling as "elegant", and Marcus Binney
compares the room with Robert Adam
's library at Kenwood House
, Hampstead Heath
.
The dining room has a shallow alcove at the north side, flanked by pilasters, with a shell-shaped ceiling and a scrollwork
frieze. The plasterwork features vines and leaves, and the white marble chimneypiece is decorated with wreaths and torches. The main staircase is cantilever
ed and follows all four walls of the stair hall; it has limestone steps, a balustrade with cast-iron scrollwork and a mahogany handrail. The sitting room and study contain oak panelling. A window contains stained glass
panels dating from the mid-16th and 17th centuries, which possibly originated in the earlier house. The hall's service areas are well preserved, and contain old cooking ranges, meat hooks and a foothole ladder to the attics.
of Lichfield
in 1815–19. The grounds contain a walled garden, yew hedge and an L-shaped ornamental pond, possibly the remains of a moat to the earlier building. The Crewe and Nantwich Circular Walk
passes through the estate.
The outbuildings include a coach house, stables and former forge, as well as various cottages and barns. To the north of the hall stands a two-storey, timber-framed
barn, dating from the late 17th century, which is listed at grade II. The barn rests on a sandstone plinth and features small framing with a brick infill.
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
mansion at Poole
Poole, Cheshire
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...
, near 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...
in 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. It dates from 1812–17 and is listed at grade II*. 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...
considered the interior to be "exceptionally fine". The hall is a private residence and is not open to the public.
History
The manor of White-Poole was held by the Elcock or Elcocke family from around 1600. An earlier house on the site of the present hall was in existence in 1622. The manor passed into the Massey family early in the 19th century, on the marriage of the heiress Elizabeth Elcocke to the Reverend William Massey, rector of DitchinghamDitchingham
Ditchingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located across the River Waveney from Bungay, Suffolk near to The Broads National Park.- Overview :...
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. The present hall was built in 1812–17 for their second son, also William Massey, possibly to the design of Lewis Wyatt
Lewis Wyatt
Lewis William Wyatt was a British architect, a nephew of both Samuel and James Wyatt of the Wyatt family of architects, who articled with each of his uncles and began practice on his own about 1805....
.
The Massey family retained ownership of the hall until around 1900. Towards the end of the 19th century it was rented out; tenants included the cricketer A. N. Hornby
A. N. Hornby
Albert Neilson Hornby, commonly designated A. N. Hornby, nicknamed Monkey Hornby was one of the best known sportsmen in England during the nineteenth century excelling in both rugby and cricket...
, as well as his father, William Henry Hornby, MP for Blackburn
Blackburn (UK Parliament constituency)
Blackburn is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The town currently elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It has elected Labour MPs since its re-creation in 1955.-Boundaries:The constituency...
. Sir William Holland
William Holland, 1st Baron Rotherham
William Henry Holland, 1st Baron Rotherham was a British industrialist and Liberal politician.He was the second son of William Holland, a cotton spinner of Higher Broughton, near Manchester. In 1872 he became a partner in the family business Messrs William Holland and Sons...
, MP, was living in the hall in 1904.
After several changes of ownership, the hall was purchased in 1988 by Tony Hill, a property developer, who undertook restoration work on the house and also enlarged the estate from 27 acres (109,265.2 m²) to 168 acre (0.67987248 km²). An avid collector, Hill used the house and its outbuildings to display his extensive collection of antiques, collectibles and cars. Antiques expert Paul Hayes
Paul Hayes (antiques expert)
-Career:Hayes began trading Dinky Toys from the age of six. Aged 19, he followed his father into the antiques business. His first sale was that of an old television. He has owned an antiques shop in his home town of Morecambe since the early 1990s...
described the collection as including "dozens of teas-maids, lamp stands, mannequins, toy robots, an old pinball machine and ... a stag's head". The car collection included Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
' Bentley
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
, nicknamed "Blue Lena". Hill sold the estate in 2007.
Exterior
The house is located at the end of Cinder Lane at . The two-storey building is in red brick with sandstone trimming under a slate roof. It has three bays to the front and six bays to the south side; a five-bay service wing on the north side is set back with a lower roof. The front face has a semicircular porch with four unfluted IonicIonic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
columns. The entrance door is flanked by pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s and has a fluted
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
. The south side features a prominent canted
Cant (architecture)
Cant is the architectural term describing part, or segment, of a facade which is at an angle to another part of the same facade. The angle breaking the facade is less than a right angle thus enabling a canted facade to be viewed as, and remain, one composition.Canted facades are a typical of, but...
bay window
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
. The corner finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
s to the parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
are carved in the form of pineapples.
Interior
Nikolaus PevsnerNikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
described the hall's Regency
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
interiors as "exceptionally fine". The four-bay drawing room has a shallow tunnel-vaulted
Barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design...
ceiling, panelled in rectangles and octagons and decorated with foliage scrolls, and a frieze with gilt palmette
Palmette
The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has an extremely long history, originating in Ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art of most of Eurasia, often in forms that bear...
s. At the west side of the room, a screen of two unfluted columns and two Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
pilasters supports a decorative beam. The marble Grecian chimneypiece
Fireplace mantel
Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling...
incorporates two female figures. Pevsner described the ceiling as "elegant", and Marcus Binney
Marcus Binney
Marcus Binney, CBE is a British architectural historian and author. He is best known for his conservation work regarding Britain's heritage.-Early and family life:...
compares the room with Robert Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
's library at Kenwood House
Kenwood House
Kenwood House is a former stately home, in Hampstead, London, on the northern boundary of Hampstead Heath. It is managed by English Heritage.-History:...
, Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay...
.
The dining room has a shallow alcove at the north side, flanked by pilasters, with a shell-shaped ceiling and a scrollwork
Scrollwork
Scrollwork is an element of ornamentation and graphic design using a spiral. The name comes from by the supposed resemblance to the edge-on view of a rolled parchment scroll. "Scrollwork" is today mostly used in popular language for two-dimensional decorative flourishes and arabesques of all...
frieze. The plasterwork features vines and leaves, and the white marble chimneypiece is decorated with wreaths and torches. The main staircase is cantilever
Cantilever
A cantilever is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and shear stress. Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.This is in...
ed and follows all four walls of the stair hall; it has limestone steps, a balustrade with cast-iron scrollwork and a mahogany handrail. The sitting room and study contain oak panelling. A window contains 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...
panels dating from the mid-16th and 17th centuries, which possibly originated in the earlier house. The hall's service areas are well preserved, and contain old cooking ranges, meat hooks and a foothole ladder to the attics.
Outbuildings and park
The gardens and park were designed by landscape gardener John WebbJohn Webb (landscape designer)
John Webb was an English landscape designer, who also trained as an architect. He studied under William Emes between 1782 and 1793, and then established his own practice. He worked mainly in the Midlands and the north of England. In Staffordshire he was commissioned by Josiah Wedgewood to work...
of Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
in 1815–19. The grounds contain a walled garden, yew hedge and an L-shaped ornamental pond, possibly the remains of a moat to the earlier building. The Crewe and Nantwich Circular Walk
Crewe and Nantwich Circular Walk
The Crewe and Nantwich Circular Walk is a long-distance walkers' path in the Cheshire East area of Cheshire, England. As the name suggests, the walk forms a circuit around the towns of Crewe and Nantwich...
passes through the estate.
The outbuildings include a coach house, stables and former forge, as well as various cottages and barns. To the north of the hall stands a two-storey, 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...
barn, dating from the late 17th century, which is listed at grade II. The barn rests on a sandstone plinth and features small framing with a brick infill.
Sources
- Cheshire Federation of Women's Institutes. The Cheshire Village Book (Countryside Books & CFWI; 1990) (ISBN 1 85306 075 5)
- Latham FA, ed. Acton (The Local History Group; 1995) (ISBN 0 9522284 1 6)
- Pevsner N, Hubbard E. The Buildings of England: Cheshire (Penguin Books; 1971) (ISBN 0 14 071042 6)