Whittington Hall

Whittington Hall is a country house built between 1831 and 1836 by George Webster, on the site of an earlier house. It is a building of sandstone rubble with a slate roof. The south facade presents a symmetrical design, executed in a Jacobethan style, two storeys high with attics. The windows are mullioned and transomed. The central porch is flanked by six-light ground-floor windows, with a cross window above each. Two bays project forward on either side; the inner ones feature two-storey canted bay windows with embattled parapets, topped by a stepped mullioned window beneath a gable. The outer bays are slightly set back and have cross windows on the ground and first floors, and two-light mullioned attic windows under smaller gables. The porch has octagonal corner turrets, with a projecting six-light first-floor window acting as an oriel, and a stepped mullioned attic window beneath a gable. The doorway is surrounded by a moulded Tudor arch, with a shield of arms carved on a plaque above. String courses run along above each storey, and the gables are topped with copings that have ball finials. A tower is visible to the left of the porch, extending towards the rear of the building; it has three storeys and an embattled parapet, together with an octagonal corner turret. The east facade includes a single-storey porch with a Tudor-arched doorway positioned between the gable of the front range and a second gabled projection. Three bays are set back to the right, and incorporate masonry from an earlier structure. Elevated terraces are present on the east and south sides, with two pairs of gatepiers and steps on the east side. The retaining wall on the south side encloses the carriage entrance to the house, at cellar level, which has a splayed Tudor-arched surround. Internally, this doorway opens into a panelled lower hallway with twin curved staircases leading to the upper hall. The upper hall features a fireplace believed to date from around 1500. The drawing room and dining room were remodelled in a Georgian style during the 1930s. Whittington Hall is recognised as one of the better examples of the Jacobethan style, and George Webster is considered a pioneer in its application.