Copley

Copley is a large country house built around 1866–68 in rock-faced red sandstone with ashlar dressings and pitched slate roofs. Designed in a Gothic style with strong Scottish baronial influences, the house has two storeys plus basement and attic, and a four-storey northwest tower. Attached to the main house are a two-storey garage and coach house range, a one-and-a-half-storey potting shed at the northeast end, and a shorter one-and-a-half-storey stable and garage range set parallel across a yard. The stable range is linked to the main house by a decorative wall.

Exterior

The main house features leaded light sashes and casements, mostly set within two- and three-light stone mullioned windows. Decorative ridge crests run along the roofline, with substantial ridge and side wall stacks. Gables have kneelers and finials.

The main southwest front has four bays. The outer bays project with gables; the left bay is slightly taller with a ground-floor canted bay, a first-floor window with timber mullion and transom glazing bars, and a two-light attic window with a blind arched opening containing a trefoil design in the gable apex. The right gabled bay has a wide three-light ground-floor window with stained glass and mullion and transom glazing bars, a canted oriel window at first-floor level, and a slender arched niche with hoodmould in the gable apex. The ground floor of the left bay projects to form a porch containing the main entrance—a Tudor arched doorway with studded double doors with moulded fillets and a hoodmould above. Three-light windows light the left bay and first floor, with the ground-floor window being taller. The four-storey tower at the northwest corner is set back and has a crenellated parapet with carved shield motifs and a small corbelled turret at the northeast corner. It features slender paired and lancet windows, mainly with segmental pointed heads and plain glazing.

The northwest (left) side elevation has a mixture of projecting walls and gables with slender lancet, two-light, and three-light square-headed windows. The gabled bay at centre left has a later timber porched entrance and carved blind panels in the upper floor windows. Behind this is an altered chimneystack with brickwork. A mid- to late 20th-century half-dormer window sits at the centre of the elevation. A small single-storey 20th-century flat-roofed extension with a blind right return stands at the far right. At the far left, a high wall with a segmental pointed doorway connects the house to the garage range, with a small internal yard behind. An enclosed external timber stair with cusped stained glass lights and inlaid lower panels connects the main house to the first-floor music room in the attached garage range. A 20th-century fire escape is also present.

The northeast garden elevation has three bays. A ground-floor door with a segmental pointed head at the right has a decorative surround with a hoodmould featuring foliage-style bosses and carved spandrels. A three-light window above is in similar style, with a continuous hoodmould incorporating an adjacent tall nine-light window to the left. This window has Tudor arched top lights with decorative patterned leadwork, smaller stained glass lights in the middle, and carved spandrels. The first-floor windows have replaced glazing. The left gabled bay has a double-height canted bay window that steps in at first-floor level, with stained glass in the ground-floor glazing and a carved trefoil containing a shield relief in the gable apex.

The southeast garden elevation has four bays. Bay two has a gable flanked by dormer windows. Bays one and two have cross windows at first-floor level, while the rest of the elevation has paired windows (narrower in bay three). Bay four has a single slender segmental pointed window at ground-floor level with a corbelled wall stack above. A truncated original timber conservatory is attached to the right gable end and rear of the garage range, with a segmental pointed partly glazed door and a plainer partly glazed door in the right return.

The garage range has a decorative ridge crest (missing in places) and a roofline stepped down in three blocks, with a corbel table at the eaves. The potting sheds at the northeast end have a gable wall fronting Manor Road with an attached gate pier (the remaining gate pier and pedestrian side gate are attached to Copley Cottages). Recessed two-light mullioned windows contain one-over-one sashes with chamfered reveals. Recessed doorways and two wide segmental arched coach or vehicle openings all have chamfered reveals. The southwest end block has three wide segmental pointed coach or vehicle openings, an adjacent door with chamfered surround, a slender window to the right, and four single-light windows (some with replaced glazing) with angled sides at first-floor level lighting the music room. A three-light rooflight sits above. The plain rear elevation has the attached timber conservatory at the southwest end (truncated) and two dormer windows above belonging to the first-floor music room. A rendered rebuilt section stands to the right. A wall with a crowstepped top emerges from the range at the northeast end at a right angle, with doors to the right leading into the potting sheds.

The stable range is one-and-a-half storeys with a similarly styled ridge crest, small gabled roof vents, and a corbel table at the eaves. The six-bay front elevation has a lower three-bay section to the right set back slightly. Recessed segmental pointed doors and fixed-pane windows have angled sides. Bays one and three have paired windows, bays four and six have single windows, bay five has a doorway, and bay two has a wide opening with an internal porch and a corbelled half-dormer above containing a small panelled loading door. Three panelled doors sit within the porch to each side and rear, with a Jacob's ladder. The northeast end elevation has a wide arched opening with double doors and a window opening above (glazing removed). The rear elevation has a mixture of recessed square-headed windows and small segmental pointed windows, with a slender chimneystack rising from the roof. A high wall at the southwest end links the stable range to the northwest elevation of the main house. The wall incorporates a large segmental pointed gateway with hoodmould and a crenellated parapet (crowstepped to the centre over the arched opening), a slender circular turret to the right rear, and carved alcoves to the rear flanking the opening.

Interior

The main house retains its original floor plan with only minor alterations. It is now divided into two residences, one in the front and one in the rear wing, with corridors on each floor level that once linked front and rear now blocked off. Original features survive throughout, including moulded cornicing and skirtings, segmental pointed doorways and panelled doors, Gothic-style stone fireplaces, built-in cupboards, original flooring including parquet floors in the principal rooms, and the original timber stair in the observation tower.

The inner entrance vestibule has partly glazed doors set within a Tudor arched surround with decorative ironwork. The lower panels incorporate octagonal-shaped reliefs, and tall sidelights have ironwork in the same style. The large panelled entrance hall has an arched opening to the rear with Corinthian-style columns and grotesque-style bosses, separating it from the stair hall behind. The full-depth room to the right has a geometric plasterwork ceiling, decorative panelled dado, and an arched opening with built-in Gothic-style cupboards. Stained glass in the windows at each end includes a design at the southwest end depicting a hand holding the coronet of Scotland, plant, bird, and insect imagery, and the motto 'VIRTUTIS GLORIA MERCES' ('glory is the reward of valour').

The front left reception room has white painted wall panelling and an exposed joist ceiling. The upper panels have carved trefoil designs and tracery work. A substantial stone fireplace has a tall hood, slender red marble column supports, and a marble hearth. The enlarged former billiards room in the rear wing has a replaced fireplace. A rear door leads into the conservatory, which is also accessed from the adjacent butler's pantry.

The stair hall has a large fireplace with decorative tilework, carved trefoil designs, foliage bosses, and a shield relief. The main oak dog-leg stair has a pierced cusped balustrade and carved newel posts, one of which on the first-floor landing incorporates a lantern. It is top-lit by a decorative domed lozenge-shaped skylight. A wide Tudor arched opening to the half-landing is in similar style to that in the entrance hall, with rooms beyond. A corbelled Tudor arch marks the first-floor landing. A plainer dog-leg servants' stair stands to the rear left of the house.

Servants' rooms to the rear left of the house and attic have some fireplaces and some segmental pointed doorways. Decorative double doors with cusped leaded lights and a leaded overlight at the rear left of the first floor lead to a highly decorative enclosed external timber and stained glass stair connecting to the first-floor music room over the garage block. The music room has decorative hammer beam-style roof trusses with cross tie beams and a large carved stone fireplace at the northeast end with red tiled cheeks, a decorative grate, and a hood depicting a dragon in relief. An integral stage sits at the southwest end. The music room is also accessed by a plain timber stair flight from the ground-floor butler's pantry.

A series of basement rooms along the northwest side of the house have stone stairs, original shelving, plain tiled flooring, and servants' kitchen ranges.

In the stable and garage ranges, intact stalls to the right stable have corner feeders, with later loose boxes to the left stable. Original Jacob's ladders and panelled dados remain. The groom's room has a stone Gothic arched fireplace, moulded cornicing, and a timber stair to the first-floor hayloft. Steel RSJs have been inserted into some garages to support a late 20th-century replaced floor. An early mechanic's pit survives.

History

Copley was built around 1866–68 to the designs of an unknown architect as a private residence. It is believed to have been built for Stephen Williamson, a Scottish Member of Parliament whose son, Archibald Williamson, became Baron Forres in 1922. The house was later bought by the 1st Viscount Leverhulme, who owned and lived in the neighbouring Thornton Manor, largely for its land. The house, its associated lodge, cottages, and outbuildings, and one of its fields were then subsequently re-sold. The house remained in private ownership until the Second World War, when it became a corn exchange. Around 1947 the house and its associated buildings were bought by the 2nd Viscount Leverhulme, and the main house was split into two residences.

Significance

Copley is designated at Grade II as an important survival of a mid-Victorian Gothic country house built in a Scottish baronial style that retains its associated ancillary buildings and gardens. The highly decorative interior is of superior quality and incorporates Gothic-inspired designs throughout. Original features survive throughout the house, including stained glass windows, Gothic stone fireplaces, segmental pointed door surrounds and doors, wall panelling, parquet flooring, and the main and secondary stairs. The stable and garage ranges also retain original features including stalls and a mechanic's pit. Stylistic continuity is maintained throughout both externally and internally, including in the basement, servants' quarters, and attached stable and garage ranges. The main house and attached ancillary ranges have group value with Copley Lodge and Copley Cottages in forming the Copley estate.