Building record 523/2/1 - Lymm Hall

<1> Carter G A, 1971, Warrington and the Mid-Mersey Valley, p.11 (Book). SCH3679.

Lymm Hall, possibly on the site of a medieval manor house. Owned by the de Limme family until c.1377, when it passed to the Dumvyle or Domville family. A member of this family probably rebuilt the hall in the reign of Elizabeth I. In the mid nineteenth century the Hall, then the residence of James Barrett, was standing within the remains of a moat.

<2> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 423796 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Hall, late sixteenth century, heavily restored, extended and the interior largely rebuilt mid and late nineteenth century. Buff coursed sandstone to front and right side, stone-dressed brick to rear. Graded slate roofs with stone chimneys. Two storeys plus attics. North front: E-shaped; balustraded porch has segmental vault with nailed, boarded oak door at rear; a three-light mullioned and transomed window to each side; recessed sashes in two-light mullioned openings to upper storey of central portion; plain parapet rises in two steps to projecting gabled wings which have three-light mullioned windows with recessed sashes to lower storey, three-light mullioned and transomed windows to upper storey and a single-light window to attic in each gable. West side has recessed sashes in two-light mullioned openings to lower storey; projecting lateral chimney with corbel-table below parapet and three attached square flues; inserted or restored canted four-light oriel behind chimney. The rear two metres of the west face project slightly. The (probably mid seventeenth century) south front of red-brown brick on one metre flush stone plinth, irregular in plan, has flush-mullioned window openings under labels, informally disposed; recessed gable of one window, left, central portion of three windows (including stair window); right gable has two-storey canted bay window with sashes in four-light mullioned openings. Victorian wing (Jacobean-classical) right of south front has mullioned bow containing French window with sidelights under a balustraded Doric cornice. A nineteenth century service wing masks the east side of house. Interior: Apart from three ovolo oak beams in hall, and an early nineteenth century stair with trellis balustrade, no visible pre-Victorian features survive.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ68 NE 10 (Index). SCH2487.

The present E shaped stone building is early seventeenth century, extended and altered in the nineteenth century. Said to be on the site of a medieval hall (B.R.S 02/07/1962).

The house is largely nineteenth century brick and is architecturally uninteresting (TP Waggott 25/10/1962).

<4> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), MPP22/AA100959/1 (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

Lymm Hall stands, surrounded by three arms of a dry moat and a wide outer bank. The island measures approximately 60m square. It is surrounded on the west, east and much of the north sides by a dry moat up to 2m deep that varies in width from 6m on the east side to 18m on the west side. The southern arm has been infilled. Lymm Hall dates from Domesday and was occupied by the de Limme family until c.1377 when it passed to the Dumvyle or Domville family. A member of this family rebuilt the hall during the reign of Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603) and the present hall dates from the 17th century. The hall was owned by James Barrett in the mid-19th century. A 19th-century painting inside the hall shows the moat to be waterlogged with a second bridge giving access across the western arm.

<5> Hartwell C, Hyde M, Hubbard E & Pevsner N, 2011, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (2011 revision), p.448 (Book). SCH7059.

‘…An E-shaped Elizabethan moated house of stone with a porch carrying a balustrade. Much altered, but the centre has a moulded string course, continued around the porch, and original mullioned-and-transomed windows. The wings were successively altered, ending up in broadly matching Elizabethan style of Victorian vintage. The rear also looks nineteenth century, with Victorian windows. It is of red brick and the central part seems to represent an extension to improve circulation by creating a passageway behind the hall. Later Victorian extension to the rear. The big stone chimneys are almost in line with the main entrance, the hearth placed laterally in a large ground-floor hall with moulded ceiling beams. The stair looks early or mid- nineteenth century, with an unusual lattice balustrade. Mr Cottrill reports the presence of a large upper chamber (now subdivided) with a vaulted ceiling with geometrical plasterwork above false ceilings…’

<6> de Figueiredo P & Treuherz J, 1988, Cheshire Country Houses, p.251-2 (Book). SCH785.

A moated house built in the 17th century for the Domvilles. It has an E shaped stone front with mullioned windows, stepped gables on the wings and is in the centre a single story porch; unlike the balustrade, but not all this is original. OF the 17th century is the recessed centre and the porch; unlike the wings this section has a plinth and a moulded string course, and the two big mullioned windows flanking the porch are much more weathered than the others. Then perhaps in the the 18th or early 19th century the wings were added; a watercolour view kept at the house shows them with flat parapets and sash windows. Finally c.1840 the stepped gables and other mullioned windows were installed making the symmetrical neo-Jacobean front depicted by Twycross. He also shows the irregular garden elevation of c.1840. Both fronts are virtually unchanged, but there is service wing to one side and behind it, facing the garden, is a late Victorian addition.