Loton Park

Country house. Built circa 1670, enlarged in 1711, extended and remodelled around 1830 and 1838 by Thomas Jones (c.1794–1859) of Chester, and further enlarged in 1873. Red brick with grey and red sandstone ashlar dressings (circa 1870); two-span plain tile roof. The original 17th-century structure follows a U- or H-plan, with an 18th-century addition to the north and an 1873 wing at an angle to the south-east. The building comprises a basement, two storeys and attic, with one storey and attic wing.

The south front features a chamfered stone plinth and quoins. The parapeted gables are coped in chamfered stone with shaped keeelers and finials at feet and apexes. Nineteenth-century brick stacks consist of star-shaped shafts with moulded bases and oversailing tops (the central stack was truncated after a fire by the time of survey in June 1985). The facade is arranged in 1:3:1 bays with projecting gabled wings (gables added around 1838) and a central gabled semi-dormer. Mid-19th-century wooden cross-windows have chamfered reveals and returned hoodmoulds. The central first-floor window features flanking stone Corinthian columns supporting a broken triangular pediment with a heraldic cartouche in the tympanum. Below is a pair of French casements flanking a central pair of half-glazed doors with moulded architrave and doorcase with Ionic pilasters supporting a frieze and cornice. A circa 1838 three-bay ashlar loggia or porch occupies the centre, with four steps to its base, round arches with imposts, Tuscan columns supporting an entablature, and a balustrade. To the right, the circa 1870 theatre wing comprises a three-bay centre with buttresses dividing tall two-light mullioned and transomed windows and three gables above, a full-height canted bay to the left with a three-light mullioned and transomed window and arcaded parapet, and a gabled wing to the right with buttresses flanking a large five-light mullioned and transomed window and a three-light attic window.

The rear elevation has a high stone plinth with a cyma-recta moulded top, plat band, pilaster strips with chamfered rustication, moulded cornice, and raised and fielded panelled pilaster strips to the attic with moulded cornice and coped parapet ramped up to the centre with square-section balustrading above windows. Eighteenth-century square-section lead downpipes between bays two–three and seven–eight have moulded rainwater heads. The arrangement is 2:1:3:1:2 bays, set back to centre. Early and late 18th-century glazing bar sashes (some replaced by 19th-century two-light wooden casements) have gauged brick heads, projecting keystones, moulded stone cills and moulded brick aprons. The central first-floor window has a moulded architrave with small flanking volutes, frieze, and continuous cornice breaking forward at the centre. The central attic window has a lugged architrave with triple keystone, frieze, and continuous cornice breaking forward at the ends. A former central doorway (now a sash) has a moulded architrave and doorcase consisting of oddly proportioned fluted Doric pilasters with short sections of entablature above, a frieze with paterae, and a segmental pediment with broken back centre (the external staircase is missing). Two-bay return fronts have panelled parapets.

Interior

The interiors are primarily early 18th-century and early 19th-century. The entrance hall contains an 18th-century marble floor, 18th-century bolection-moulded panelling, and an early 19th-century Tudor Gothic stone fireplace with flanking arches opening through to the rest of the house. The dining room has 18th-century bolection-moulded panelling and fluted pilasters, with an 18th-century chimney-piece by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard featuring a lugged architrave, carved foliage decoration, a frieze with swags, and dentil cornice. The drawing room has 18th-century raised and fielded panelling and pilasters. The large drawing room contains a late 18th-century fireplace with columns topped by acanthus capitals, bucrania and husk garlands, plus cornice, and a 19th-century panelled ceiling with carved bosses and openwork frieze. A dog-leg staircase has a closed string, turned balusters, moulded handrail, panelled square newel posts, and wainscot panelling. The theatre in the 1873 wing features chamfered stone arches, a chamfered-arched stone fireplace, west gallery, and panelling. A chimney-piece by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard originally in the first-floor front room was removed at the time of survey in June 1985 for restoration work after the fire.

Historical context

Loton Park is the family home of the Leightons. Robert Mylne (1733–1811) made alterations for Sir Charlton Leighton Bart. in 1773–4, but no evidence of these survives. E. Haycock (1790–1870) of Shrewsbury made alterations for Sir Baldwin Leighton Bart. in 1819 (drawings are at the house). Thomas Jones carried out alterations for Sir Baldwin Leighton in 1830 and 1838, which probably included the addition of the south gables to the 17th-century block and the porch (drawings at the house).