Building record 179/3 - Churche's Mansion, Hospital Street, Nantwich

<1> Pevsner N & Hubbard E, 1971, The Buildings of England: Cheshire, p.499 (Book). SCH3078.

Dated 1577, before the Great Fire, and built for Richard Churche by Thomas Cleese (inscribed on the front), The front elevation is symmetrical in outline, similar to nearby Dorfold Hall. Carved brackets include carved heads (possibly Churche and his wife) and salamanders (later additions to celebrate surviving the fire?). Some rooms may have been associated with Churche’s business, an example of combined showroom and dwelling.

<2> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 431176 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

An important sixteenth century house (carved inscription, dated 1577) which escaped the Great Fire of 1583. A large timber framed black and white building; two storeys plus attic; four gables to front; projecting wing at left (two gables); overhangs at first and second floors with coved plaster under hangs; enriched corbel brackets at eaves with carved human faces, animals etc; windows mainly wood mullioned and transomed with restored leaded lights having some tinted glass; some casements, probably eighteenth century. Porched entrance with square headed heavily moulded doorcase and with eighteenth century door; large end and lateral brick stacks; restored barge boards; old, tiled roof.

Interior: Left hand wing has good, exposed ceiling beams and timber framing, the upper room at rear with some contemporary panelling with a fine carved overmantel; elsewhere the principal rooms have good panelling with a fine carved overmantel in room to right of hall. In recent years the house has been well restored.

Nos 122 to 126 (even), Nos 130 to 144 (even), Nuthurst School, Nos 146 and 148 and Churche's Mansion form a group.

<3> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, Vol 5, p.39-40 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

In December 1976, an excavation was conducted on behalf of Cheshire County Council in the front of Churche's Mansion, prior to the area being lowered by the owner. Two features of interest were exposed. The first was a rough-cobbled area laid on natural sand, and contemporary with the building of the mansion in 1577. The second was a ditch shown by the presence of medieval pottery in the lowest silt to have been open prior to the building of the mansion. It seems likely that this latter feature is the reason for the traditional association of a moat with the Churche's Mansion site. A range of medieval and post medieval pottery was obtained, together with a number of seventeenth century clay pipe bowls in good condition.

<4> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Wilson D, 1986 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

David Wilson, of the Elizabeth Gastrell College, Manchester, who undertook the excavations at Churche's Mansion in 1976, did not consider a moat to have existed, but thought the ditch to be a drainage channel. Part remains exposed in front of the house.

<5> South Cheshire Teachers' Centre, History Resources Group, Undated, Churche's Mansion: A Resource Unit for Schools (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH8277.

A teaching resource produced for Churche's Mansion. It is described as a splendid example of a wealthy Elizabethan merchant's town house. Richard Churche built the house on land which had been in the family since 1474. The deed granting the land stated that, '…all that land with its buildings, gardens, orchards etc situate in Hospitulle Strete..' was granted to John Churchehouse anad his brother Nicolas. This may indicate that Richard Churche extended a building already on the site, and it is thought that the original building now forms part of the kitchen and the buttery. The resource examines the method of fabrication utilised for a typical timber framed building and discusses the design of Churche's Mansion whereby the first floor overhangs the ground floor, and the second floor overhangs the first floor. This overhang or 'jetty' was common in the fifteenth century. Other architectural elements of the house are discussed. A transcript of part of Richard Churche's will is also discussed, including an inventory of assets and which are left to whom. William Churche, Richard's eldest son, inherited the major part of his father's estates, but the Mansion went to Randell, the younger son. This branch of the family ended with the death of Randle's grandson in 1674, and the Mansion reverted to William's descendants. The Mansion was let to a tenant, William Jackson, Doctor of Phisick in 1696, and various other tenants followed until, in 1859, it was no longer fit for letting and a cow-keeper hired it as a store for corn and hay. After some refurbishment, ten years later, the Mansion became a Young Ladies' Boarding School under Mrs Rhodes and following this, it was again let to a variety of tenants. In the 1930s the property was eventually bought privately and its future secured.

<6> Williams B, 1981, Nantwich - Archaeological Implications Survey, SCH2236a; SCH2236h (Paper Archive). SCH2236.

The 1976 excavation formed part of a series of small scale, rescue excavations in Nantwich during the 1970s/80s.

<7> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2019, Churche's Mansion, Hospital Street, Nantwich, Cheshire: An Archaeological Watching Brief, R4304 (Client Report). SCH8689.

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in April 2019 during groundworks for the construction of an extension to Churche’s Mansion. As the Mansion is a Grade I Listed Building (list number: 1039605), it was anticipated that earth moving activities associated with the demolition and replacement of one of its later extensions could impact with archaeological evidence for earlier activity on the site. The watching brief was carried out during the removal of the existing floor slab and foundations of an existing extension and during the excavation of the foundation trenches for a new, marginally larger, replacement. The groundworks undertaken for the construction of the new extension to the rear of Churche’s Mansion revealed a pit feature, dated by finds of pottery to the 18th century, and exposed a small element of the foundation to the rear elevation of the Mansion building. At this particular location, and probably elsewhere beneath the Mansion, the foundation appears to have consisted of a cobble-filled trench upon which a sandstone sill wall sat, the sill wall supporting the superstructure of the building. The eighteenth century pit feature had partially disturbed the foundation. However, no direct dating evidence for the foundation was encountered during the watching brief and, therefore, it can only be assumed that the foundation is likely to be contemporary with the construction of the Mansion during the later sixteenth century.

<8> Nantwich Town Council, 1977, Walkabout tour of Nantwich, p.10 (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH7371.

A fine example of an 16th century town house, with restored oak panelling and an Elizabethan well discovered when old hearths were opened after being hidden for many years. At one time the parlour was used as a cow-keeper's storehouse. On the front of the house are various emblems including a lion, an ape and a salamander. In the entrance porch are carved portraits of Richard and Margery Churche.

<9> Elizabeth H. Brotherton-Ratcliffe, 1982, Some Recently Discovered Tile Variations at Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire (Article in Journal). SCH9674.

Article discussing a fragment of medieval decorated tile found during excavations outside Churche's Mansion (also tiles found at Little Moreton Hall and All Saints' Church, Church Lawton). The tile fragment is unworn, badly made and probably a waster (tile illustrated). There is no evidence of a paved floor within Churche's Mansion itself.

<10> Ordnance Survey, 1851, Nantwich Board of Health Map (Maps and Plans). SCH2431.

This map depicts and names Churche’s Mansion. To the south are extensive gardens enclosed by a wall on three sides. A wall and small garden separate the house from the road. To the east and south-east of the house are a series of buildings. It is difficult to determine if all these buildings are directly associated with house.

To the immediate east is a rectangular building, or adjoining buildings, aligned north-south on their long axis c.12m x 5m. The northern part appears to be depicted as either unroofed or as an enclosed yard. This building/s may survive in the present collection of structures at this location.

At the southern end of this building/s, and to the immediate east, are two small buildings with walled enclosures on their southern side (possible pig sties) and another unroofed structure or enclosed yard. To their south is a rectangular building c.7m x 4m aligned east-west on its long axis. Smaller buildings are attached on the western and southern sides. To the south of this building is a square building c.5.5m x 5m and connected to the garden by a path. All these buildings appear to have been demolished.