Gatehouse at Upton Cressett Hall

Gatehouse at Upton Cressett Hall

This gatehouse stands to the south-east of Upton Cressett Hall, aligned with the Hall's entrance. It is a Grade I listed building constructed of brick, diapered in parts, with moulded brick and rendered dressings. The roofs are covered in plain clay tile.

The building is of two storeys and attic, set on a high plinth with moulded brick capping and small areas of stone. It features octagonal towers at the corners on the north side facing the Hall, and a central passageway running through the ground floor.

The south elevation, facing away from the house, comprises three bays. A central brick archway with two chamfered orders and a four-centred head carries a projecting chimney to either side, each rising to two conjoined diagonal shafts with a gable dormer between them. The archway is flanked by two small single-light windows with drip courses. The first floor has two windows of two transomed lights with drip courses. Ground and first-floor windows have brick jambs and mullions with diamond-pattern glazing. The attic window of two lights sits within the gable, which has stone coping.

The north elevation facing the house shows three bays with a central gable between two octagonal corner turrets. Some black brick is present but without regular diapering. The ground floor features the central passageway with a matching four-centred arch of moulded brick with two orders of chamfering and flanking single-light windows. The first floor has a central window of four mullioned and transomed lights with moulded brick jambs, mullions and transoms. The attic window of two lights is set in the gable. The turrets have small single-light windows in rendered surrounds winding upward, with conical roofs finished with ball finials.

The east and west returns are similar, each with a central asymmetrical gable adjoining a turret and a single window to each storey. Ground and first floors have two- and three-light windows with brick jambs, mullions and transoms and projecting drip courses; the ground-floor window of the east side has been blocked and replaced with a four-centred arched opening to its left. The attic windows of two lights match those on other elevations. The gables have stone coping. At attic level, brickwork extends in line with the angled turret wall to create a hanging feature.

The interior is divided by original square-framed partitions. Doors include panelled examples dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. The central open passage, built in brick, houses three doorways—one to the east and two to the west—under timber lintels. On the ground floor, the eastern room has a brick-lined fireplace with a timber bressumer over. A door provides access to the north-eastern turret, now fitted with services. The ground floor of the western side is divided by an original timber-framed partition in three bays into a room and passage; one bay contains a chamfered-framed doorway giving access to the kitchen. This room has 20th-century fixtures and finishes. The passage leads to the stair in the north-western turret, which features solid oak treads winding around a central round oak newel post. The undersides of the treads have deep chamfers and run-outs.

The first floor is divided by original square-framed partitions to create a passage running across the width of the building on the north side and two equally-sized rooms. The corridor has a plain plaster ceiling with moulded borders. Doorways to the southern rooms are set within the square-framed partition and are chamfered. The rooms contain large ceiling beams with chamfers and crisp ogee stops running north-south, continuing across the corridor. Both rooms have extensive plaster decoration to their ceilings.

The eastern room has a fireplace with brick piers and a timber bressumer with a very shallow chamfered four-centred arch, supported by moulded stone corbels. Above the fireplace is a section of small-square panelling with moulded edges. The eastern wall has a small timber lintel indicating the site of a blocked opening or possibly a wall cupboard. The ceiling bays each have a narrow moulded border. The eastern bay ceiling features a central Catholic sacred heart embossed with 'IESV' (Jesu) surrounded by strapwork between four portcullis badges and four sets of Prince of Wales feathers, enclosed by raised mouldings and surrounded by flowers, cartouches and fleurs-de-lis. The smaller bay has a star of four panels, each containing strapwork forming a border to a cartouche, with fleurs-de-lis between panels, a Tudor rose at one end and a strapwork cartouche at the other.

The western room has a similar fireplace, though the bressumer has an additional moulded cornice. Above it, the plastered wall surface is divided into geometric panels by moulded plaster ribs enclosing various motifs including a Catholic sacred heart with embossed 'IESV' (Jesu), fleurs-de-lis, portcullises, Prince of Wales feathers, cartouches, Tudor roses and strapwork. A plaster frieze using varied moulds includes strapwork elements.

The first floor room of the north-eastern turret is fitted as a modern bathroom with late-20th-century finishes. The stair in the north-western turret continues to the attic storey, a single open space with no fireplaces. Set against the stacks at the rear are two small brick structures resembling narrow fireplaces with very narrow round-arched openings, possibly serving to allow warm air from fires and stacks below to heat the room.

The two roof trusses have interrupted tie beams, upright posts and high collars, with twin purlins and a ridge piece. The roof structure is complicated by front and rear gables forming an effective cross-wing and two small gables tying the stacks to the main structure. The turret roofs each have common rafters rising to the top of a chamfered post standing on the centre of a chamfered tie beam.

The building was formerly listed as Gatehouse at Upton Hall.