Cauldwell Hall

Cauldwell Hall

Small country house, now a school, situated on the west side of Main Street in the Parish of Cauldwell. The building is early 18th century in date with late 18th and 19th-century alterations, and late 19th and 20th-century additions. It is constructed of red brick on a stone plinth with gauged brick and stone dressings, and features hipped slate roofs with panelled brick side walls and ridge stacks. The building is arranged partly in two storeys plus attics, part in two storeys only, and has a U-shaped plan with an eleven-bay garden elevation to the south.

The southern range, which is the principal elevation, rises two storeys plus attics. It is composed of an advanced five-bay central section with lower three-bay flanking wings. The central part and wings are set on moulded stone plinths with rusticated stone corner pilasters extending to the top of the first-floor level. Large moulded stone cornices with a stone course above the first-floor windows cap this section. The attics have parapets with moulded stone copings, which are ramped up to meet the central bays on either wing. Plain stone corner pilasters topped by gadrooned urns complete the attic treatment.

At ground level, a central moulded stone doorcase is now filled by a plain sash window, with pairs of plain sashes to either side. Beyond these, the wings each contain a central late 19th-century canted bay window with a moulded stone cornice below a brick parapet, flanked by plain sashes set in reset 18th-century moulded shouldered stone surrounds with double keystones. An inserted panelled door below a plain overlight stands between each canted bay and the advanced central sections to the east.

The first floor features eleven plain sashes, those to the central five bays being taller than those to the wings. The central window is set in a moulded shouldered stone surround with plain ashlar above and below. The central windows to the wings have similar surrounds with lintels ramping up to double keystones. Windows without stone surrounds have flat gauged brick arches with double stone keyblocks. The attic level displays eleven small glazing-bar sashes, all beneath flat brick arches except the central one, which is set in a moulded stone surround. In the re-entrant angles, late 19th-century hopper heads dated 1727 sit at the top of the first-floor level, while above them in the attic are the original fluted 18th-century lead hopper heads. Later additions to the east and west sides of the south range are of no special architectural interest.

The rear elevation is centred on an early 20th-century porch in 18th-century style, with two glazing-bar sashes below flat gauged brick arches with double stone keyblocks to the east and two similar windows above. A tall glazing-bar sash stands above the porch. To the west, two similar sashes are set at mezzanine level with blind recesses above and below. The attic level has five small glazing-bar sashes below flat brick arches. A late 19th-century wing to the east features four glazing-bar sashes on each floor: those to the ground floor are beneath segmental gauged brick arches with stone keyblocks, those to the first floor are below plain flat brick arches, and those in the attic are set within pedimented roof dormers.

The early 18th-century west range has a plain stone plinth, rusticated quoins to the corners, and an advanced pedimented central bay with moulded stone cornice. The range is two storeys high with seven bays. The central bay contains a moulded stone doorcase with a pulvinated frieze, moulded cornice and console keystone. To either side are three timber cross windows below flat gauged brick arches with stone keyblocks on each floor, with six similar two-light windows above and a central two-light window in a moulded stone surround on console brackets with a raised keystone. Above, the pediment features a moulded stone cornice and a central circular stone clockface.

The interior contains an original dogleg staircase with ramped and wreathed handrail, three knopped balusters to each tread—one plain, one fluted and one twisted—scrolled cheekpieces, and dado panelling to the opposite wall. Most rooms facing the south front have raised and fielded panelling with dado rails and timber cornices. The hall retains its original grey marble bolection-moulded fireplace. Two simple 18th-century fireplaces survive in first-floor rooms, and some reused 17th-century panelling is present.