Swiss Cottage

SJ 4034-4134 18/144

ELLESMERE RURAL C.P. OTELEY Swiss Cottage

GV II

Swiss cottage, now disused. Circa 1826 to 1842 for Charles Kynaston Mainwaring. Horizontal split-log construction on rock-faced rusticated plinth to main range, regularly coursed and dressed red sandstone blocks to gabled range; fishscale slate roof with carved woodwork to wide spreading verges and eaves; carved pendants and finials. Basic L-plan with porch projecting to north. Single storey. South side has gable to right with Tudor arch to passage going through to north side. North side has open gabled timber porch to left with carved decorative open-work panels to sides and ornamental half-glazed doors with decorative tracery. 4-light leaded window to right supported on carved wooden brackets and similar window to right gable end. Rusticated stone axial stack behind ridge to right. Interior. Retains traces of original decorative scheme. Elaborately decorated frieze with fleur-de-lys decoration below. Guilloche pattern to door. Exposed rafter roof and tile floor. Charles Kynaston Mainwaring was a keen amateur gardener and he travelled extensively on the continent. It is believed that he was personally responsible for much of the design of the garden at Oteley and for the features therein. His house, Oteley Park, built for him in an Elizabethan style on the site of an earlier building between 1826 and 1830 and extended in 1842 was demolished c.1960. B.O.E. p. 226; Peter Reid, Burke's and Savills Guide to Country Houses, Vol. II (198C),pp.106-7 ; Francis Leach, The Country Seats of Shropshire (1891), pp. 19-23; Mrs. Frances Stackhouse Acton, Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire (1868),p. 58.

Listing NGR: SJ4108134940