Maer Hall And Attached Garden Wall To South

SJ 73 NE MAER

408/9/97 Maer Hall and attached garden Wall to south (formerly listed 30.07.64 As Maer Hall)

GV II

Country house and garden wall. House: mid-C17, considerably altered and extended mid-to-late C19 with the addition of wings by W. Culshaw and later J. Francis Doyle of Liverpool, although now again reduced to its original size. Mainly yellow sandstone ashlar on chamfered plinth, stone slate roofs; the only original stonework is to the cellars (red sandstone on east side), which also retain their original mullioned openings. C19 work in Jacobean style. 2 and 3 storeys over cellars. West garden front: 2 storeys with 3 shaped full dormers surmounted by globe finials above moulded eaves cornice; 1:1:1:1:1 bays, windows all mullioned and transomed, those to left and right dormers with stepped lights; central 2-storeyed porch with round-headed doorway and applied Doric columns, changing above to Ionic order; openwork balustrade to top carried around eaves, connecting dormers; 2 sandstone ashlar stacks behind ridge with paired rebated shafts. North front: 1:1:1 bays, again with mullioned and transomed windows and shaped gabled dormers; mid-C20 central single-storeyed porch with applied columns above. East front: 2 storeys and attic storey plus a further lit roof space; 1:1:1:1 bays, also with mullioned and transomed windows but with 3 plain gables to attic storey, incorporating upper gable lights. Late C19 flat-roofed porch (probably owing its present appearance to the reduction of the Victorian work) against south side with a coped stone garden wall attached to south. Interior: not inspected, but said to have been considerably altered in 1960's when many of the Victorian fittings were removed. NOTE: Maer Hall was the home of Josiah Wedgwood the younger from 1804 to 1843. Josiah Wedgwood the elder's daughter Susannah was the the mother of Charles Darwin, who married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839. Charles Darwin was a frequent visiter to Maer Hall, where he is reputed to have made some of his early geological and botanical studies. Maer Hall was also the home of F.J. Harrison, the Liverpool ship owner, in late C19, and it was for him that Doyle extended the hall. B.O.E., p. 201.

Listing NGR: SJ7920738332