Peover Hall

Peover Hall is a country house built in 1585 for Sir Randle Mainwaring, with substantial additions and alterations dating from around 1653-6, circa 1764, circa 1944, and 1966. The building was originally intended as the first phase of a much larger E or H-shaped house. Work began around 1585 and halted around 1590, never to be resumed according to the original plan. The 1966 restoration and alterations were designed by architect R B Wood-Jones.

The house is constructed in red English bond and English garden wall bond brickwork with stone dressings and a stone slate roof. It has three storeys with basements.

The south-west front was originally symmetrical or nearly so in its massing, though not in its fenestration. The attics to the left were raised around 1653-6 and the gables at that side were replaced by a level parapet. A recessed central portion contains a basement area to the right of centre with a cambered-headed stone surround to a now-blocked doorway and a 3-light mullioned window. A 20th-century imposed stone doorway is positioned slightly to the left of centre at ground floor level. To the right are two 4-light casement windows with mullions and transom; to the left are one 4-light and one 2-light similar windows. The first floor features a 7-light window to the right of centre with mullions, transom, and a wider central light, a 3-light similar window to the left of centre, and a 4-light similar window further left. The second floor has three 3-light mullioned windows, with that on the left set in a gable. The window slightly to the left of centre marks the junction of the raised roofline and has one sloping gable shouldered to the right, which dies shortly after its summit into the parapeted wall containing the left-hand window. This newer walling, and elsewhere on the house, is English garden wall bond rather than the original English bond.

Massive projecting chimney breasts with deep offsets sloping towards the centre flank either side of the central portion, part of the 1653-6 rebuilding. The right chimney breast has a 3-light mullioned window with transom; the left has a 2-light mullioned window to its inner face at first floor level. Beyond these are projecting wings with stone quoins to their angles, originally both gabled. The left-hand wing was raised as part of the 1653-6 alterations and has a flat parapet. Both wings have 3-light windows to first and second floors. Windows throughout this front have stone surrounds and mullions and transoms with early examples of ovolo mouldings.

The right-hand return features 3 and 6-light ground floor mullioned windows, each with transom, with similar arrangements to the first floor and 3 and 2-light mullioned windows to the second floor attic gables. A projecting wing to the right was cut short when building ceased around 1590; its upper two storeys were rebuilt in the 1653-6 alterations. A basement window of six mullioned lights with a wide central mullion sits in an area; the ground, first, and second floors have 6, 5, and 4-light mullioned windows respectively, with parapet above and stone coping.

The left-hand return has 6 and 3-light ground floor mullioned windows, 4 and 3-light windows as well, and three 3-light mullioned windows to the second floor. An uncompleted wing matching that on the right contains a 6-light basement window in an area with a wide central mullion and 5, 4, and 3-light mullioned windows to the ground, first, and second floors respectively.

The entrance front comprises six bays with a projecting wing to the right of centre. In 1966, a large continuation to this wing dating from around 1764 was demolished and replaced with a present 3-bay façade. To the left of the projecting wing are two bays with a 6-light mullioned window to the left and a 3-light similar window to the right, with a doorway further right bearing an heraldic stone panel above displaying a central armigerous shield surrounded by strapwork and masks, flanked by male and female terms to left and right respectively. A lintel above the frieze carries the date 1585 in relief to the centre. Two 6-light mullioned windows occupy the first floor, and two 3-light mullioned windows with gables over the second floor. To the right of the projecting wing area is a 6-light ground floor mullioned window, a similar window to the first floor, and a 3-light mullioned window to the second floor with parapet above.

The interior features a cross passage with a staircase to the north-east wall of four flights—two original and two added around 1966—with richly moulded newels with extended finials, balusters, and a deep, heavily moulded banister rail. Contemporary wall panelling shows a frieze depicting deer in a grove of fruit-bearing trees.

The kitchen has an open timber ceiling of heavy beams arranged as coffers infilled with short, chamfered beams running in chequered alternation or containing quarter circles. The hall contains panelling brought from Horsley near Chester in the 20th century. The morning room features panelling from Otley Park, Shropshire, and Ellesmere, Shropshire, also brought to the house in the 20th century.

The first floor includes an oak room with a moulded truss of circa 1585, panelling of circa 1650, and a contemporary fireplace with Ionic pilasters. The long gallery had its floor lowered around 1764, at which time bolection-moulded panelling was installed with a plaster frieze above.

The second floor garret has an exposed common rafter roof with scissor-truss type braces.