Wellingore Hall And Attached Rc Church Of St Augustine

Wellingore Hall and attached Roman Catholic Church of St Augustine

A country house now converted to offices and flats, with an attached private chapel now serving as a Roman Catholic church. The hall is a Palladian villa built around 1760 for the Neville family, extended around 1800 and again in 1876 by J MacVicar Anderson. The building is constructed in limestone ashlar with slate hipped roofs and numerous ashlar moulded chimney stacks. It features a plinth, first floor band, and moulded cornice with coped parapet.

The main structure comprises a central block of five bays and three storeys (including basement, piano nobile and mezzanine floors). The slightly projecting central three bays are crowned with a pediment. The north entrance front displays a single-storey projecting porch with moulded cornice and parapet topped with ball finials. The doorway surround is moulded ashlar with double keystones and a pediment supported on brackets, with 18th-century double panel doors. To the left are a single and pair of small plain sashes in moulded surrounds with double keystones; to the right a set of steps leads to another doorway with a small plain sash beyond. Above are five larger plain sashes with moulded surrounds and hoods, and above these five smaller plain sashes with moulded surrounds. The pediment contains an oeil-de-boeuf window.

Flanking the central block are early 19th-century two-storey canted bay windows with moulded cornices. Each bay contains three small plain sashes in moulded surrounds with double keystones below, and three larger plain sashes with moulded surrounds and moulded hoods above. Beyond these are late 19th-century two-storey-plus-attic wings: a single bay to the east and three bays to the west. The first two western bays and the eastern bay have plain sashes below in moulded surrounds with double keystones, larger plain sashes with moulded surrounds and hoods above, and through-eaves dormers with plain sashes, moulded surrounds and pediments supported on brackets. The third projecting western bay features a two-storey canted bay with plain sashes and a similar through-eaves dormer above. To the east projects the Roman Catholic church.

The south garden front is identical except that the lower windows of the central three bays are round-headed with moulded arches and moulded impost bands; the central opening contains double glazed doors with two-light casements either side. The early 19th-century canted bays have round-headed first floor windows with flush surrounds. A lower two-storey wing was added to the east in 1885.

Interior

The central hall contains a resited 19th-century staircase beneath a plaster ceiling. Two upper rooms retain Rococo-style plaster ceilings, while another features a Neoclassical-style plaster ceiling.

Roman Catholic Church of St Augustine

The former private chapel, now a Roman Catholic church, was built in 1878 by J MacVicar Anderson in Neo-Norman style and was restored following fire damage in 1885. It is constructed of limestone ashlar and rock-faced stone with a slate roof. The building is a single storey over a high basement, comprising a six-bay nave with an apsidal north end, a north-east vestry and sacristy. The structure is orientated north-south.

The exterior features a moulded ashlar tall plinth, first floor band, moulded ashlar cornice and parapet, with coped gables surmounted by cross finials. The south wall adjoins Wellingore Hall. The west elevation has a small doorway and thin slit openings on the ground floor, with above five pairs of round-headed lancets connected by a continuous cill band and moulded impost band. Each pair of windows has a single central column and three-quarter column shaft responds with stiff-leaf capitals and moulded bases.

The apsidal north end presents a blank ground floor, above which are nine bays of blind arcading with alternating niches, articulated in the same manner as the western windows. The apse has a stone roof. To the east, the vestry and sacristy each feature a pair of round-headed windows to both floors, with moulded arches and pilasters. At the north-east corner stands a circular staircase and bell tower, three storeys high, topped with a conical stone roof and fleur-de-lys finial. The ground floor has a doorway with staff mould surround and a round-headed window with moulded arch and imposts. Above are two similar windows, while the third storey is open with eight round-headed arches with moulded tops and pilasters between.

The east elevation is rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings. The ground floor is masked by a two-flight staircase with a solid coped balustrade leading to the main entrance. Above this are a pair of round-headed windows to the north with moulded arches and pilasters, followed by another pair of similar though narrower windows. Set back to the south are three large circular windows with moulded arched tops and pilasters; above again are two tall moulded ashlar chimneys. The main doorway has a round-headed staff mould surround with double doors and above it a shield inscribed 'A D 1878, Rebuilt 1885', topped by a moulded gable surmounted by a cross finial.

Interior

The six-bay nave has in its south bay a raised choir gallery, originally the family pew, supported on three round-headed stone moulded arches decorated with zig-zag pattern. These rest on two square piers and two square responds, each with moulded bases, staff mould piers and stiff-leaf capitals topped by a band of stiff-leaf incorporating corbels which support the roof timbers. An iron balustrade crowns the gallery.

The west wall features five pairs of tall round-headed windows with deeply moulded arches, grey marble columns and stiff-leaf capitals. These capitals are linked by a continuous band of stiff-leaf which incorporates corbels supporting the roof timbers. This band continues across the north wall at the impost level of a large niche with a round arch decorated with zig-zag pattern. A small round-headed piscina with shafts is also present. The east wall carries the same stiff-leaf band.

The two northern bays are blank except for a round-headed doorway to the sacristy. The three southern bays open via large round-headed arches decorated with zig-zag, featuring stiff-leaf capitals and square piers with attached half columns of grey marble on moulded bases, into a groin-vaulted south aisle. The aisle has a corresponding arcade and round-headed doorways at either end with zig-zag decorated arches, with a central altar against the south wall.

The sacristy and vestry retain their original fittings, with a vaulted parish room below. The church contains a 19th-century wooden roof, a plain octagonal stone pulpit and wooden pews. To the north stands a large free-standing marble altar and reredos, the front of which displays five figures within a five-bay arcade. Above and behind rises a stepped reredos with foliate reliefs and a central tabernacle with marble columns. Above this is a lantern supported on marble columns with round arches, supporting a square dome with crocketed pinnacles at the corners.