Building record 14884 - Mottram Hall, Mottram St. Andrew

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1234766 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

II* Large house: c.1750 built by William Wright for his son, interior alterations of c. l780 and restoration dated 1939. Additions and adaptations to hotel c.1975. Flemish bond orange brick with buff sandstone dressings. Hipped Kerridge stone-slate roof and 9 brick chimneys. Long facade with projecting end pavilions. 2-storey symmetrical 17-bay front (3:3:5:3:3). Central 5 bays are the original house. Rusticated plinth supports giant order Doric pilasters with a triglyph frieze with rosettes. Triangular pediment contains a blank Rococo cartouche and the legend "NISI DOMINUS EDIFICE DOMUM FRUSTRA LABORATUR" adapted from psalm 117. Central doorcase with recessed panels on the jambs has a segmental pediment on consoles with floral swags in the tympanum. It now contains a glazed door. Above is a 12-pane sash in an eared architrave. Similar windows in the remainder have flat gauged and rubbed heads with stone keyblocks and sills. Flanking 3 bays on ashlar plinth have Gibbsian surrounds to door and window in central bay that steps forward slightly under a triangular pediment. Similar central bays to end pavilion, which step forward 5 bays, but surrounds have chamfered rustication. Rear pediment of central block carries inscription "RURA MIIH PLACEANT" (Sic). There are large C20 extensions to the end pavilions.

Interior: Former entrance hall has a good Adam-style ceiling with a delicate cornice, border of rosettes, central circular panel bordered by a running vine with a fluted roundel at the middle. Carved softwood dado rail, skirting and door architrave with dot diamond motifs and lines of husks. Good mahogany 6-panelled doors. Room to left has lost ceiling but similar softwood carving based on fluting. White marble fireplace has centrepiece of an urn with swags of husks. Central passage has a long plaster groin vault with fan lunettes in the side and other Adam motifs. Oak-well staircase has square iron balusters, mahogany handrail, carved open string with raised roundels above a band of fluting. Bressumers have urns in relief and elliptical medallions. Stairwell lit by semi-circular headed window with tracery in the tympanum. The ceiling is heavier with swags of husks in the frieze, a ropework border and a central panel of acanthus leaves. Garden rooms have eared architraves to doors and long windows and mid C19 copies of the style of the ceiling in the stairwell. The modern lobby has an oak panelled dado of early C18 style. The fireplace is flanked by fluted wooden pillars carrying urns, acanthus border to fire opening with roundels in the frieze above. Fluted wooden pilasters in the openings to the adjoining rooms.

<2> Orion Heritage, 2018, Champneys, Mottram Hall, Mottram St. Andrew: Heritage Statement, R4274 (Client Report). SCH8638.

A heritage statement was produced in December 2018 for Mottram Hall, Mottram St. Andrew, which is Grade II* Listed (NHLE 1234766), prior to a proposed extension of the spa complex, located to the north east of the original eighteenth century building and dating from the late twentieth century.

William Wright, the builder of Mottram Hall, owned Offerton Hall, Stockport. He died in 1770 with no heir, so the estate passed to the eldest son of his first cousin Rev. Henry Offley Wright. The estate remained in the ownership of the Wright family until the early twentieth century when it was put up for auction in 1922 by Julia Mary Wallis Wright. The sales advertisement describes the estate as comprising 1222 acres and the house itself as 'mellowed-toned red brick with stone tile roof', with halls, four reception rooms, 19 bed dressing rooms etc. The rooms are described as finely proportioned with original Adam decoration. The estate was again put up for sale in 1939, then comprising some 310 acres, the house itself and its grounds including woodland, three lakes, cottage, parkland and the Old Hall dairy farm. Following its purchase by Ferguson Pailin Ltd as a guest house and holiday home for its employees, it was also used for educational purposes. The property was converted to a country hotel in the 1970s. The building has latterly undergone several extensions, including the spa complex and golf club house and course, and is also in use as a business and conference centre.

<3> Orion Heritage, 2019, Champneys Tea Rooms, Mottram Hall, Mottram St. Andrew: Heritage Statement, July 2019, R4373 (Client Report). SCH8789.

Following on from an earlier heritage statement produced in 2018 (source 2), a further heritage statement was produced in July 2019, in support of development proposals at Mottram Hall.