Listed Building: TATTON OLD HALL (1329674)

SJ 78 SE TATTON C.P. TATTON PARK 4/110 Tatton Old Hall (formerly listed as Old 5.3.59 Hall) GV II* House. Late C15-Early C16 with C17, C18, C19 and C20 additions and alterations. Red English garden wall bond brick. Stone slate roof. Originally all timber framed, but the framing of the external walls was replaced in the late C17 or early C18. L shaped, 2 storeys. South east front: Stone plinth. Slight projection to far left hand side with band of 3 bricks height. Gabled wing to far right (probably an C18 extension of a less prominant C16 projection). Abutting chimneystack to right of centre of one flue and another with 2 diamond-shaped flues. 5 windows to ground floor and 3 to first floor, all C19 replacements. All the upper floor windows and 2 ground floor windows are ovolo-moulded mullion windows of 2 lights. C19 gabled porch to left of centre. Break in plinth indicating probable former doorway to left of 2-flue chimneystack. North eastern elevation. Stone plinth; gable; string courses above ground and first floor windows, raised at the corners; gable brickwork slightly recessed above the string course. One C19 ovolo moulded 2-light mullion window to each floor. Circular light in gable. End rafters and ends of purlins exposed. C18 wing to left with one 2-light ovolo moulded mullion window to each floor and doorway to ground floor. Exterior of hall block: all windows C19 replacements of ovolo moulded mullioned sort in 2 storeys reflecting C19 division of hall. C19 porch to south west. The brickwork to all the external walls is unevenly bonded in places due to the piecemeal replacement of timber framing with brick. Interior: Hall: single aisleless rectangular space with gallery at south-eastern end. The inserted floors have been removed. Roof of c1480-1520: wall plate with facing carved in fern leaf and artichoke pattern with battlemented moulding above. 2 principal trusses and spere truss have cambered ties, decorated on the side facing the north-western (dais) end with the fern leaf and artichoke and battlements pattern. Row of 11 moulded struts above connecting with a cambered collar beam carved with a row of quatrefoils (the most north-westerly principal truss having rosettes at the centre of each quatrefoil). Triangular plate carved with a central quatrefoil and 2 daggers connects this to the ridge. Simple trusses alternating with the principal fafters connected by unmoulded collar beams. These principal rafters are plainly chamfered but those on the principal trusses and each of the 3 pairs of purlins are hollow and step chamfered. Quatrefoil wind bracing throughout save for 3 bays on south west side and one on the north east side in either of which places a chimney stack may once have stood. Buttresses and gallery are C20. Parlour in south eastern wing has richly chamfered ceiling beams. Upper rooms have small framed walls with wattle and daub infill. King and queen post trusses to roof. Basket arched early C17 hearth to one first floor room. Tatton Park belonged to the Egerton family from 1598 until 1958 when it was given to the National Trust who now administer it in conjunction with Cheshire County Council. Bibliography N J Higham - "Tatton Old Hall. A Preliminary Report on Excavations conducted at Easter 1979", Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, No.6, 1978/79, Pages 72-74. L McKenna - "An Approach to Dating by Structural Elements", Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, No.6, 1978/79, Pages 53-57. L McKenna - "From Post Hole to Timber Framed Building", Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, No.7, 1980/81, Pages 22-27. S R Williams - "The Archaeologist's View", Interpreting Tatton Park, Countryside Commission/Centre for Environmental Interpretation, 1983, Pages 61-64. S R Williams - "The Old Hall and Deserted Village at Tatton Park near Knutsford", Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, No.4, 1976, Pages 7-10. S R Williams - "Tatton Old Hall : The Rediscovery of a house". Cheshire History, Jan-Feb 1984. Listing NGR: SJ7562981282