Cantley Hall and Outbuildings

Cantley Hall and Attached Outbuildings

A country house with attached outbuildings, built in 1785 for Childers Walbank Childers. The building was altered in 1802 by Hurst of Doncaster for J. W. Childers, and a ballroom was added in 1870.

The main structure is of stuccoed brick with a graduated Westmorland slate roof. It comprises two storeys arranged as a 2:3:2-bay entrance front with a lower 2-bay service wing set back on the left side, and a 3:2:3-bay garden front on the right return. A 1-storey ballroom addition of 1870 is positioned to the right of the garden front.

The entrance front features a plinth with painted facade. The centre section projects forward and is accessed via a 3-step stylobate leading to an Ionic portico with paired side columns and single pilasters beneath a dentilled entablature. The double panelled door has an overlight with decorative radial glazing bars and a corniced architrave. The other bays contain projecting sills with sashes with glazing bars (bays 6 and 7 have been walled-up internally). The first floor displays a band beneath the windows matching the ground floor treatment. A dentilled eaves cornice rises as a central 3-bay pediment with apex stack; the corniced ashlar parapet features balustraded panels over the outer bays. The roof is hipped with various stacks.

The service wing, set back on the left, retains one sash with glazing bars to the first-floor left. A 1-storey outbuilding is attached on the left, which includes a projecting octagonal game larder with open sides.

The garden front (right return) is two storeys with 3-bay canted projections flanking a 2-bay centre. The ground-floor fenestration has been altered, with large sashes and French windows to bay 2, centre and bay 6. The first floor follows the front arrangement except the centre bay has two 8-pane sashes. The cornice and unpainted parapet match those of the front.

The ballroom addition on the right features a mullioned and transomed 5 x 1-light bay-window projection with ovolo-moulded window surrounds, cornice and miniature parapet with balustraded panel. A semi-circular window is positioned above. The eaves cornice and coped parapet with balustraded panel complete this elevation. The right return of the ballroom has two similar bay-window projections.

The interior contains notable Neo-classical features. The stair hall has stone paving with black insets and trompe l'oeil wall panelling. A wooden staircase with finely-turned balusters features a cantilevered flight rising to a landing set on Corinthian columns. A domed lantern with radial glazing bars and coved surround with husk garlands and paterae crowns the stair well.

The front-right room is an elongated octagon with 6-panel doors and a fine wooden fire surround. Neo-classical wall panels flank 2 semi-domed niches with side pilasters and anthemion motifs. A frieze with vases and guttae cornice completes the wall treatment. The adjacent room has a fireplace with an old iron grate and an anthemion frieze.

The rear-right room is round-ended with wall panels matching the front-right room. It contains an excellent plaster ceiling with a radial pattern of vases and anthemion motifs set in a square, with matching fan-shaped panels at each end. The ceiling frieze features vases and figurines in repetition.

The ballroom of 1870 features pine panelling and painted panelling in matching styles. A gallery occupies one end, and the ceiling is compartmented. The first floor contains small octagonal rooms within each canted projection.

The outbuildings include a game larder with stone benches, a centre pole and rows of iron hooks, and an adjacent small room with benches, troughs and a weighing device on the wall.