Building record 15744 - Butley Hall

<1> Historic England, 2011, The National Heritage List for England, 1275006 (Web Site). SCH6528.

Grade II Listed former hall, now flats: late C17 core, façade dated 1777 on rainheads for Downes family with C19 addition to north and C20 alterations to flats. Coursed squared buff sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. Kerridge stone-slate roof, stone ridge and 5 brick chimneys. Main portion of original house has a 3-storey, 7-bay front (2:3:2). Central 3 bays step forward slightly under a triangular pediment. Doorcase has a shouldered architrave and segmental pediment and contains a grained 6-panelled door with raised fields. 4-pane sashes have Gibbsian heads and top storey has 2-light horizontal sliding sashes. Modillion cornice. Bays to side have plain stone lintels to similar windows. To left is a 3-bay, 1-storey portion containing a venetian window and an ovolo-moulded doorcase. Similar to right but later raised to 3 storeys in keeping with remainder. To rear remains of 3-storey, 3-gabled C17 front now with barge boards with Greek key pattern and remodelled 2-light stone mullions. Symmetry now spoilt by 3-storey canted bay to right and addition to left. Interior: Hall has 3 ovolo-moulded ceiling beams and late C17 oak well staircase with twisted balusters, square newels and heavy handrail. Panelling in stairwell C20 but with panels of earlier carving. Late C18 panelled shutters and window seats in downstairs rooms.

<2> Peter de Figueiredo (Independent Consultant), 2020, Proposed Development, Brook Cottage, Chelford Road, Great Warford, SK9 7TL: Revised Heritage Statement, R4649 (Client Report). SCH9316.

Butley Hall is a small country house dating from the 17th/18th and 19th centuries. The original building appears to have been a hall house with two cross wings, of timber-framed construction, probably dating from the early 17th century. Investigations have revealed elements of the timber frame in the central part of the building, and infill panels of wattle and daub still survive. A series of 18th and 19th century extensions were built to the north, south and west of the original house. In 1777, Peter Downes refaced the main front in masonry, with a three bay shallow, projecting, pedimented centrepiece, two further bays to each side, and single storey sides wings with Venetian windows. The style is a countrified version of the work of James Gibbs, and may derive from his publication 'Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture' (1732), which remained in use as a pattern book into the 19th century. The north wing was subsequently raised to three storeys. The rear retains some 17th century character with stone mullioned windows. The internal walls are a combination of timber-framing, brick and stone, with many modern partitions inserted for conversion to flats. The principal elements of historic fabric are the oak floor and roof timbers, the 17th century oak staircase with twisted balusters, moved from its original position and reconstructed, oak floor boards and some limited areas of 18th century panelling to window openings and ceiling plasterwork.

Butley Hall is associated with a number of leading Cheshire famillies. The Manor can be traced back to 1070 when it was sequestered by the nephew of Hugh Lupus. It was in the hands of the Piggot family from the 13th century to 1551. The estate was purchased by the Leghs of Adlington in 1602, though it was not until 1790 that the Legh family acquired Butley Hall. After the Piggots, the Hall was occupied by the Davenports of Henbury util at least 1626. Around 1750 it was acquired by the Downes family of Shrigley, who built the present main front in 1777 before selling it to the Leghs in 1790. In 1861 it became the home of William Coare Brocklehurst, MP for Macclesfield. In the early 20th century it was in use as a girls' school and was later converted into apartments.