Listed Building: ARLEY HALL (1329694)

SJ 68 SE ASTON-BY-BUDWORTH C.P. ARLEY EALL 3/7 Arley Hall 5.3.59 GV II* House. 1835-45. By George Latham of Nantwich. Red Flemish bond brick with blue headers arranged in patterns of diapering, Horton stone dressings and slate roof. 2 storeys with cellars and attic. Mezzanine floor to west side. South front: symmetrical 7-bay facade in A.B.B.C.B.B.A. rhythm. Stone plinth, quoins, window surrounds and parapet. Slightly projecting wings to either side with stone quoins and shaped gables with stone decorations. Canted 2-storey bays of 6 lights. 5 mullions to both floors with 2 transoms to ground floor windows and one to first floor. Pierced stone parapets to both bays. Central porch with 2 pairs of debased Ionic columns with Jacobean diamond lozenges to lower shafts and strapwork to pedestals. Central arch with coats of arms in the spandrels. Above this there originally rose a square tower with a semi-circular oriel window and octagonal lantern over. This was demolished in 1968 and replaced by a 3-light window with 2 mullions and one transom in a stone surround. To either side are two 3-light windows with 2 transoms and 2 mullions. Hood moulds over join at level of upper transom. First floor windows similar to central replacement. 2 groups of 4 moulded brick Tudor chimneys to left and right behind ridge. West front: 2 floors with mezzanine. Doorway to centre imposed upon central 2 lights of a 4-light mullioned and transomed window. 2-light mullioned and transomed window to left with two 2-light mullioned windows at mezzanine level. Two 2-light mullioned windows above these. To right a 3-flue chimney stack, then blank ground and mezzanine floors. Stone oriel to first floor of 3 mullioned and transomed lights supported on consoles with 2-light mullioned and transomed windows to either side. Strapwork decoration to lower part of oriel and pierced stone parapet above. Interior: Front Hall: Oak panelling in a C17 style. Plaster strapwork to ceiling. Library: bookcases and chimney-piece in loose Jacobean style. Ionic pillars with lozenges to lower shafts and strapwork to pedestals with male and female terms above in pairs to overmantel. Fittings supplied by H Wood and Co. of Covent Garden in 1843. Elaborate Jacobean ceiling with pendants. Canted bays containing stained glass to upper lights by M Lusson of Paris, 1852. Gallery: oak panelling to lower walls, panelled, moulded ceiling with strapwork and pendants. Canted bay with stained glass to upper lights by M Lusson 1863. Fireplace with 2 Doric columns, panelled at bases. Overmantel with central carved panel of St George slaying the dragon with personifications of Hope and Patience to either side in niches. Underneath the appropriate carvings the inscriptions 'HOPE CONFIDENTLY' 'DO VALIINTLY' and 'WAIT PATIENTLY'. Drawing room: coved ceiling with delicate 'Jacobean' strapwork, arabesque decoration to cornice frieze and raised and fielded panelling to the lower walls of mid-C19 French style. 9-panel doors with similar mid-C19 French doorcases. Great Staircase: half-turn staircase with landings. Plaster strapwork to soffit. Deep moulded handrail and heavy oak balusters. Coved ceiling decorated with strapwork rising to central octagonal lantern also with plaster strapwork decoration to ceiling. Ante-room: oak panelled barrel-vault with strapwork and pendants. The first Arley Hall was built on this site by the Warburton family in 1469. The estate has descended in the same family since then. In 1968 the house suffered considerable reduction due to demolition, the Banqueting Hall and much of the East front and service court having been razed. The Chapel (q.v.) was then isolated. The service court originally abutted the west front and the present left hand portion of that front is a rendering of an originally external wall with old mullioned windows reset. Sources: George Ormerod - History of Cheshire ed. Helsby 1882 Country Life - 24 December 1904 Ni kolaus Pevsner and Edward Hubbard - The Buildings of England : Cheshire. London 1971 Listing NGR: SJ6755280927