Cound Hall

Cound Hall is a mansion dated 1704, designed by John Prince of Shrewsbury for Edward Cressett. A service wing was added around 1800 and the building was extended in 1907 (as marked by a datestone). The interior was partly altered in the early 19th century and again in the late 19th or early 20th century.

The house is constructed of red brick with gauged detailing on the north-west front and grey sandstone ashlar dressings throughout. It has a hipped slate roof. The building follows a double pile plan with recessed corners and measures 3:3:3 x 1:3:1 bays across three storeys and an attic over a basement.

The north-west front is the principal elevation. It features a plinth with channelled rustication and moulded stone top, stone floor bands with moulded undersides, and a Corinthian giant order. The pilasters are fluted with carved cable fluting, moulded bases and well-carved capitals. Short sections of entablature are enriched with carved lions in the frieze to the centre pair. A well-moulded dentil cornice breaks forward over the pilasters, with acorn dentils at corners and egg and dart enrichment. A solid parapet with wrought iron balustrades sits over end projections. The front has four segmental-topped dormers and six brick stacks arranged 3:3:3. Windows are glazing bar sashes—early 18th century in the left-hand three bays with exposed boxes, and late 18th century to the right—with gauged brick heads (segmental to the basement), moulded stone cills and aprons. A carved stone datestone sits below the central second-floor window, and carved stone festoons decorate panels beneath the fourth and sixth first-floor windows. The centrepiece consists of a pair of doors, each with three bolection-moulded panels and a rectangular overlight above. The stone doorcase has panelled pilasters with moulded bases and carved husk drops, large carved console brackets with putti flanking a carved monogram, and an open segmental pediment with broken-back centre and carved armorial shield with flanking palm fronds in the tympanum. Eight probably early 19th-century stone steps lead up to the entrance, with incised fret ornament on the risers and small square corner-piers at the feet.

The right-hand return front has 1:3:1 bays with flanking pilasters and a central break marked by chamfered stone quoins of equal length. The central bay projects slightly forward. Windows are early 18th-century sashes to the ground and first floors and late 18th-century sashes to the second floor; some outer bays have blind windows. A central pair of half-glazed bolection-moulded doors with rectangular overlight is set in a stone doorcase with chamfered rusticated ground, an architrave with egg and dart enrichment, a frieze with carved foliage decoration and shield, and a broken segmental pediment with carved foliage decoration and cartouche in the tympanum. Flanking curved flights of stone steps with wrought iron balustrades feature square-section railings and standards with globe finials, curved stanchions, ramped handrails and a radial panel to the centre with flanking lyre panels. A keyed segmental arch beneath contains a flight of steps down to a half-glazed basement door.

The left-hand return front has 1:3:1 bays with flanking pilasters and a central break with chamfered stone quoins of equal length. Early 18th-century sashes with exposed boxes are installed; some outer bays have blind windows. The first-floor windows have triple keystones.

The rear elevation has 3:3:3 bays with a Corinthian giant order. Pilasters flank the centre three bays and are decorated with carved cartouches in the frieze, supporting a triangular pediment with broken-back centre. Early 18th-century sashes occupy the three right-hand bays and the second floor of the centre three bays. First-floor windows have triple keystones and second-floor windows have no aprons. Eight stone steps lead up to a pair of half-glazed doors in a stone doorcase with panelled pilasters with moulded bases and carved husk drops, large carved console brackets, and an open segmental pediment with broken-back centre and armorial carving with flanking foliage in the tympanum.

The service wing to the north-east dates to the late 18th or early 19th century. It is constructed of red brick with grey sandstone dressings and a hipped slate roof, standing one storey. It features chamfered stone quoins, a dentil stone eaves cornice, and a central brick ridge stack across four bays with glazing bar sashes. Additions dated 1907 are in an early 18th-century style, built of red brick with grey sandstone dressings, plinth, chamfered quoins, moulded eaves cornice and lugged architraves; they include sashes and wreathed oeils-de-boeuf.

The interior reflects work from 1704, around 1800, and the late 19th or early 20th century. The left-hand rooms are mainly original from 1704 and retain bolection-moulded panelling, moulded cornices, and panelled doors. Fireplaces have bolection-moulded surrounds, floating cornices, and late 18th or early 19th-century cast iron grates. Small corner fireplaces occupy the dressing rooms on the first and second floors. Wall cupboards adjoin the fireplaces. The first-floor central corridor features tall bolection-moulded panels from floor to ceiling. The ground-floor left-hand front room is especially fine. Other fireplaces throughout are probably late 18th or early 19th century.

The right-hand rooms and ground-floor rear rooms have been significantly altered in the late 19th or early 20th century. The ground-floor right-hand front room is decorated in a Neo-Jacobean style with panelling, a stone fireplace with overmantel and strapwork plaster ceiling. The ground-floor right-hand room at the rear is in an early 18th-century style with bolection-moulded panels and fireplace surround, panelled doors, and an enriched plaster ceiling. Two central ground-floor rooms at the rear have been combined and remodelled in a Neo-Classical style with an Ionic screen, richly decorated plaster frieze and cornice, two fireplaces and panelled doors with doorcases. The first-floor right-hand front room features lugged panels, Ionic pilasters, an enriched plaster cornice and panelled ceiling, a Neo-Classical fireplace and panelled doors. Other fireplaces and fittings throughout the house are also probably late 19th or early 20th century.

A full-height entrance hall contains a staircase said to be early 19th century but possibly around 1900. It comprises three flights to each storey around a square well with landings; the centre flight 'flies' across the hall with a half-landing supported on Ionic and Corinthian columns. The open string is carved with paterae on the tread ends; the wrought iron balustrade has a columnular newel post and moulded ramped and wreathed handrail, with probably late 19th-century strapwork decoration on the soffit. The circa 1900 panelling includes a ceiling with dentil cornice and central rose. An early 18th-century back staircase runs from ground to first floor with a closed string, turned balusters, square newel posts and moulded handrail. A further back staircase to the second floor has delicate turned balusters, square newel posts and a moulded handrail.

It is said that repairs were made to the south front after an earthquake around 1840, which may explain why the early 18th-century sashes on that side were only partly replaced with the thinner barred later type. It may be significant that the early 18th-century interiors have survived best in the parts of the house where the sashes have not been replaced.

The house is notable for its high-quality detailing and as one of the few known works of John Prince. It exemplifies a type of country house popular throughout the West Midlands in the early 18th century, comparable to the work of Francis Smith of Warwick.