Brereton Hall

Brereton Hall

A hall, now used as a school, built in 1585 with substantial alterations made in 1829 and the late 19th century. The building is constructed of stone-dressed brick with a leaded roof to the front range and slate roofs to the cross-wings.

The present structure suggests a reversed E plan, probably originally containing a great hall behind the gateway forming the central bar, which was demolished and replaced by an 1829 conservatory. The front range comprises a basement and two storeys, with a turreted central gateway and a bay of two windows on each side. These side bays are flanked by slightly projecting cross-wings of considerable depth, which form the sides of an open court to the rear. The gateway features a replaced Gothick glazed door-screen set within a basket-arched opening with stone steps. Above the gateway, a continuous mullioned and transomed window spans the entrance bay and turrets. Heraldic panels appear below and above this window—the Brereton arms placed subordinate to the royal arms. The turrets, which originally had cupolas, were linked by a basket-arched bridge incorporating reused stonework. They were subsequently shortened, crenellated, and their cupolas removed in 1829.

The side bays are defined by a plinth and contain low two-light recessed mullioned casements to the basement, with two-light recessed mullioned and transomed casements to both main storeys. Crenellation was added to these bays in 1829. Each cross-wing features a pedimented two or more-storey canted bay window with a low three-light mullioned window to the basement and six-light mullioned and transomed windows to each main storey. Above the pediment sits a two-light mullioned and transomed window at attic level. The wings display a plinth and band at the second-storey ceiling, with coped gables topped by ball finials. All corners of the building are finished with flush quoins.

The windows at the front were originally leaded but were reglazed with large panes in the late 19th century. The cross-wings have canted bay windows on their returns and on their rear gable-ends. The bay window on the inner return of the right wing has been removed, while that on the outer return of the left wing has been altered and now has a hip roof. Six or more rectangular brick chimneys are present but not prominent. The rear wall of the front range opposite the gateway is blank, showing signs of rebuilding and now opens onto a 19th-century metal conservatory. Leaded casements survive at the rear.

The interior was radically altered in 1829 but retains fragments of earlier work. At the junction of the front range and right cross-wing are a landing and vestiges of what is probably a great open-well stair of oak, though the date of its balustrades is uncertain. Each cross-wing contains parts of a service stair with bulgy, crudely-turned balusters.

The oak-panelled front room of the right cross-wing has an overmantel of Elizabethan character with heraldic panels, including a bear's head in a coronet (the Brereton arms). The rear room in the right cross-wing displays a good Elizabethan chimneypiece with tapering pilasters and a royal coat of arms. The annexe of the panelled middle room in the left cross-wing contains a fine Jacobean chimneypiece with a Caryatid on the right and an Atlas figure on the left supporting an overmantel decorated with winged and arrow-tailed dragons. The Brereton arms are inscribed on this chimneypiece with the date 1633 and the Latin inscription: OPITULANTE DEO.

The rear room in the left cross-wing has painted panelling. A panel in the lower rear room of the left cross-wing is inscribed with the moral exhortation "DOE NOTHING THIS DAY WHEROF OF THOU MAYEST REPENT TOMORROWE. KNOW HIM WELL WHOM THOU MAKEST OF THY COUNCEL LEST HE BETRAY THY secret", surrounded by strapwork and featuring a man's head vigorously protruding a forked tongue. Three and four-board doors survive in the attics.

Features introduced in 1829 include an ornate plaster ceiling to the hall and a geometrical stone stair with mahogany rail on cast-iron balusters.