Croxall Hall And Attached Garden Wall

Croxall Hall and Attached Garden Wall

A large house of the late 16th century, restored and enlarged in 1868 by Joseph Potter of Lichfield. The building is constructed of red brick laid in English bond with sandstone ashlar dressings. The roofs are plain tile with coped verges on shaped kneelers, and feature brick end stacks and ridge stacks, some of which retain 16th-century octagonal shafts.

Originally the house was U-shaped, comprising a hall range of two parallel blocks aligned east-west and facing north, with wings to the east and west enclosing three sides of a northern courtyard. The west wing was destroyed by fire in 1942. In 1868, service extensions were added to the north-east corner of the east wing, forming a new courtyard enclosed on three sides. A 16th-century garden wall is attached to the buildings and extends northwards for approximately 150 yards. The 16th-century details throughout are entirely Gothic in style.

The north front displays the hall range to the right and the east wing at left angles to the left. The hall range rises two storeys on a coped plinth, with 1:1:1 bays. A central gabled two-storey porch dominates, containing a central four-centred arch door with ogee and hollow chamfer moulding and a returned hood mould. Above the door are two shields. The first-floor window is of four transomed lights with chamfered mullions and transom, with a returned hood mould, and a blind quatrefoil fills the gable. On either side of the porch are two ground-floor windows of three lights and one first-floor window of five lights, all with hollow chamfered mullions and transoms. The ground-floor windows have returned hood moulds.

The east wing is also two storeys with 1:1:1 bays and a central gabled break. To the left are transomed windows of five lights at ground floor and three lights at first floor, the latter partly within small gables with blind shields above. Further windows of two, three, and five lights with mullions are positioned as follows: two lights to the ground floor, three lights to the ground floor right and first-floor centre, and five lights to the ground-floor right of centre. Windows to the centre and ground-floor left have returned hood moulds; those to the first floor left and right have straight hood moulds.

The south front is two storeys on a coped plinth with first-floor and eaves bands, arranged in 2:1:2 bays with a central gabled break. This elevation is dominated by a two-storey bay window with a crenellated parapet. The ground-floor windows light pattern is 5:2:6:2:5 lights, while the first floor follows 3:2:6:2:3 lights, with an additional single-light window at first-floor level to the centre of the right-hand side. A corner stack to the right bears 19th-century star-shaped shafts.

The service courtyard of 1868 comprises a single-storey central range flanked by projecting wings left and right. The central range shows 1:1:1 bays with a central gabled break, containing transomed windows of four lights to the centre and three lights to the right, a two-light mullioned window and square-head door to the left. The left-hand range features a four-light transomed window right of centre, a segmental-head door to the left, a square-head door to the right, and a block door left of centre. The right-hand range has a four-centred arch door to the left and terminates to the right in an octagonal building with mullioned windows and a hipped roof surmounted by a weather vane.

Attached to the north side of the octagonal building is the 16th-century brick garden wall with stone coping. It incorporates a south-facing doorway with a Tudor arch, sunken spandrels, a double hollow chamfered surround and returned hood mould. Towards the centre is a garden gateway flanked by square piers with moulded caps and ball finials.

The interior retains a 16th-century plaster ceiling in the hall range, decorated with square panels with rounded lobes. Some panels contain pendants while others have a central rose, the border decorated with foliage and fruit. Two 19th-century stone fireplaces are also present in this room.