County House

County House

This townhouse has possible 15th or 16th-century origins but was substantially rebuilt between 1728 and 1733. It was remodelled and extended in 1833 to form judges' lodgings, subsequently converted to offices in 1922, and further extended in 1930 and 1949.

The building is constructed of brick walls with stucco and ashlar dressings, with remnants of timber framing visible. The 1833 extension includes cast-iron columns to the ground floor. The roofs are hipped slate, with various brick stacks throughout.

The plan is U-shaped, comprising a rectangular-plan range facing south to High Pavement, a cross-wing extending north from the west end of the front range, an extension added to the east of the front range in 1833, and extensions to the rear of the 1833 extension in 1930 and 1949.

The front (south) elevation presents a symmetrical six-bay, three-storey façade over a concealed basement, with the central two bays recessed. The elevation rises from a plinth with deep eaves carried on carved wooden brackets and plat bands to the ground and first floors. Sash frames without glazing bars are set within projecting carved stone surrounds. The two central bays incorporate a first-floor bow-fronted balcony, introduced in 1833, carried on engaged pilasters with foliage brackets. The central doorcase comprises a round-arched rusticated-stone door surround, with a fielded six-panel door and decorative radiating fanlight, set beneath a scrolled wrought-iron lamp holder. The ground-floor windows flanking the doorway are enclosed by bow-ended wrought-iron railings and a chamfered ashlar plinth, incorporating boot scrapers to each side of the entrance.

To the east of the six-bay block, a three-bay two-storey wing was added in 1833 in the Greek Revival style. Its upper floor has three tall sash windows separated by giant Doric pilasters set beneath a pediment. The ground floor features an open colonnade with two squat, fluted cast-iron Greek Doric columns carrying a full entablature, a four-panel door with a rectangular overlight, and a flight of stairs to the basement. The colonnade is enclosed by cast-iron railings, with a cast-iron gate to the stair.

An earlier three-storey cross-wing of late-medieval origins extends northwards from the west end of the rear (north) elevation. Although built of red brick, it displays evidence of earlier timber framing and blocked openings. The cross-wing has a variety of sash windows to its east and west elevations, with cut stone lintels and sills. The west elevation has two door openings: a round-arched door opening providing access to the stair hall of the cross-wing, and to the north of this, another flat-arched door opening giving access to the former larders.

The rear (north) elevation of the front range has a variety of sash windows and a tall semi-circular arch-headed stair window to the three-storey stair hall (the window most likely heightened in 1784 when the attic storey was replaced by the second floor and roof replaced). A single-storey glazed corridor of 1930 connects the stair hall with the rear of the 1833 extension, together with a further two-storey rear extension of the same date on the site of the former stable block, and a later single-storey extension of 1949. Attached to the north wall of the 1930s office block, and on the higher level of the former rear garden, is a small two-storey brick building with an external stair, possibly built in the late 18th century as accommodation for a groom or gardener.

The central entrance hall to the front range has a limestone flagged floor, a timber-panelled lobby of around 1930, and timber-panelled walls with an integrated timber cornice of various dates. The ceiling retains a 19th-century plaster medallion. In the north-west corner of the entrance hall, an early-18th-century staircase rises to an intermediate landing and to the first floor, with an open string and three turned balusters per tread. From the west wall of the entrance hall, a single timber-panelled flight of steps of 19th-century date rises to the first floor, providing access to what were the judges' suite of rooms.

The room east of the entrance hall retains a late-18th or early-19th-century fireplace on the north wall, a late-18th-century cornice, and a 19th-century plaster medallion to the ceiling. The room to the west of the entrance hall retains an ornate marble fireplace of probable early-19th-century date on its east wall. North of the west room, the cross-wing incorporates a large former kitchen with substantial tie beams and a wide fireplace with a stone lintel on the south wall. A door on the north wall provides access to the rear service hall, with a service stair in the north-west corner.

The first floor of the front range is accessed via the main staircase in the north-west corner of the entrance hall. From the first-floor stair landing, an 18th-century archway on the west wall, now fitted with a door, leads north into the passage along the cross-wing to the head of the former service stair (not accessible at time of inspection). From the first-floor landing, an oval-well stair with two stick balusters per tread rises to the second floor, lit by a tall, round arch-headed stair window on the north wall (the stair and second floor were probably added and roof replaced around 1784).

To the south of the first-floor landing is a suite of three rooms, which were adapted for use as the judges' bedroom (west), drawing room (centre) and breakfast room (east) in 1833. The west room retains a classical-style fireplace of around 1784 on its east wall, and the central room retains a finely-carved timber fireplace on its west wall. The east room has four doorcases with shouldered architraves and panelled double doors, and a 19th-century painted slate fireplace on its north wall. The door on the east wall provides access to the first-floor room of the 1833 extension, formerly the judges' dining room. This double-height room is ornately decorated in the Greek Revival style, with a frieze and cornice, and timber panelling to the lower part of the walls, together with three ornate doorcases with Egyptian architraves and cornices on brackets, and panelled double doors. A painted slate fireplace with double pilasters survives on the east wall, and the window reveals retain panelled shutters. The north door provides access to a stone cantilevered open-well stair of around 1833 with an iron handrail on stick balusters and a cast-iron fluted newel post, top-lit by a domed lantern with a central plaster boss. The stair hall has 19th-century red and black tiling to the ground floor.

Access to the first and second floor of the cross-wing, and second floor of the front range, was not possible at the time of inspection in 2017 due to the condition of the stairs and floor structures. It is understood that the other first and second floor rooms have cornices and panelled doors.

The cellars are brick vaulted. That to the north end of the cross-wing is cut into the rock to form a cave. That in the south-west corner of the front range is cut from rock and shows evidence of foundations of an older structure along the west wall. That in the basement of the 1833 extension shows evidence of a planned subterranean passage south to the Shire Hall (not completed).

A red-brick wall bounds the rear yard to the north, and a flight of stone steps provides access to the upper level to the north (formerly the rear garden of County House, now a car park).