Alderton Hall

Alderton Hall is a timber-framed house with slate roofs, now rendered, arranged in an L-plan. It was built in 1591 for Richard Heylin, as confirmed by internal evidence. The building has been significantly altered over time: the interior was remodelled in the late 17th century, the building was extended in the late 18th century, and further changes were made in the early to mid-19th century.

The house comprises a hall range of three framed bays set at right-angles to the road, with a cross wing of two framed bays facing the front. It rises to two storeys, with the cross wing including an attic storey.

The north-east front features a jettied first floor on the left-hand side and to the rear, with moulded bressumer. A jettied gable end on the left also has a moulded bressumer and is finished with 19th-century pierced scalloped barge boards with finials. A brick corner stack, probably inserted in the late 17th century, stands to the right of the front. A large external lateral stack to the rear has a high chamfered grey sandstone base with brick upper part, decorated with a toothed-brick cornice, three star-shaped brick shafts with oversailing tops, and a pitched-roofed link to the attic. The main front elevation features a large central gable with a 2-light wooden attic casement, a pair of first-floor small-paned 2-light metal casements, and three ground-floor wooden mullioned and transomed windows: a 3-light window to the left, a 2-light window to the right, and a 1-light window at the centre. The right-hand gable end has ground- and first-floor wooden cross windows and a 2-light attic casement. The left-hand gable end contains a 2-light attic casement and mortices for former brackets. A 16th-century three-light chamfered-mullioned wooden window survives on the first floor at the rear.

The rear wing features a south-east front with a central timber-framed 2-storey gabled porch. The porch is jettied on three sides with moulded bressumer and retains remains of quatrefoil panels to the first floor, along with 19th-century barge boards. The ground floor of the porch was rebuilt in the 18th century. A ground-floor early 18th-century boxed glazing bar sash occupies this level. The first-floor window of the porch had been removed and the wall partly dismantled at the time of survey in January 1987. Brick infill from the 18th century lies to the right of the porch. A 19th-century dormer and external brick end stack stand to the left. A section extending to the front at the left dates from the 18th century and is constructed in brick with a dentil brick eaves cornice. The north-west front has three windows of wooden cross design, except for a 3-light ground-floor window to the right. A late 18th-century door occupying the centre position has six flush panels, the upper two glazed, with a moulded architrave and a 19th-century gabled porch (the former entrance lies between the first and second windows from the right).

The interior is predominantly late 16th and late 17th-century in character, with many surviving fixtures and fittings from both periods. The ground-floor rear room in the hall range contains a chamfered cross-beamed ceiling with ogee stops; the main beams are carved and show evidence of a possible former inscription to the centre, now defaced. A carved wall bracket survives, along with an open fireplace. 17th-century oak panelling with a fluted frieze and moulded cornice lines the walls. A pair of doors dating from around 1700 feature two raised and fielded panels each. The interior of the former porch is panelled with moulded cornice.

The ground-floor left-hand front room in the cross wing retains 17th-century oak panelling, possibly with a 19th-century fluted frieze and dentil cornice. The fireplace dates from around 1700 and includes a marble slip, a lugged architrave with wooden moulding, and a moulded cornice; remains of a 17th-century fluted frieze are visible behind. The overmantel above consists of two moulded square panels, each containing a carved lozenge with a Tudor rose within. A chamfered spine beam with ogee stops spans the room.

The right-hand ground-floor room in the cross wing was refitted in the late 17th century and features a deep-chamfered ceiling beam. A corner fireplace is appointed with bolection-moulded architrave, pulvinated frieze, moulded cornice, and a bolection-moulded panel above with a further section of moulded cornice. A shell niche in the corner houses a pair of doors with three raised and fielded panels each, surrounded by flanking fluted pilasters, a moulded architrave with fluted key, and a dentil cornice. An old panelled door with cock's head hinges is also present.

The staircase hall at the centre contains 17th-century oak panelling with schoolboys' graffiti and Greek key ornament to the cornice. This panelling, along with some in the rear room, was removed from Rigg's Hall at Shrewsbury School and installed here in the late 20th century. A late 17th-century dog-leg oak staircase rises to the attic with a closed string, ovolo-moulded wall string, drop balusters, and a chamfered handrail (changing to a grip handrail on the attic flight). The square newel posts have beaded corners, moulded shaped caps, and pendants. The attic flight is fitted with thick pierced splat balusters. A moulded plaster-panelled soffit runs beneath.

The rear bedroom in the hall range retains 17th-century panelling with moulded cornice and features a corner fireplace with raised and fielded panelling. The left-hand front bedroom in the cross wing is lined with 17th-century panelling, including a 6-panelled door with cock's head hinges. Its fireplace has a 19th-century surround consisting of Doric pilasters with panels above, 17th or 18th-century Delft-type tiles in the reveals, and a 16th-century three-bay overmantel comprising round-arched outer panels, a central panel-in-panel, pilasters, and a frieze with guilloche and other ornaments. The overmantel is dated 1591.

The roof structure over the hall range features pairs of purlins with wattle and daub panels. The cross-wing roof has single purlins, wind braces, and wattle and daub panels.