Bourton Hall And Attached Former Catholic Chapel

Bourton Hall and Attached Former Catholic Chapel

A country house with an attached former Catholic chapel of St. Mary and St. Joseph, set on the west side of Bourton and Draycote Main Street. The hall is said to be dated 1791 and was built for John Shuckburgh. Additions to the north and west sides were made around 1880 for Richard Shuckburgh. The building was remodelled between 1906 and 1908 by architect Harold A. Peto for James Shaw, when the entrance range, quadrant link, and chapel were added. The hall underwent restoration in 1980–1981.

The original 18th-century range and late 19th-century additions are built of sandstone ashlar. The entrance range and rear additions are of roughcast brick with sandstone dressings. The quadrant is timber-framed with an ashlar plinth. The roofs are slate with hipped ends; the stone chimneys have cornices. The building has a complex double-depth plan with service wings to the rear and was remodelled in early 18th-century style.

The garden front to the south, originally the entrance front, faces three storeys with a two-storey addition on the left and four bays. It was originally symmetrical. The late 18th-century detailing includes sill courses and string courses to ground and first floors, a doorway and architraves to the central bay, and a moulded cornice. The tripartite Roman Doric doorway has unfluted half-columns and pilasters with a projecting central pediment. A 20th-century double-leaf glazed door with fanlight sits in a moulded stone architrave with keystone, alongside four-pane sashes. Above is a two-light casement in a pedimented Ionic aedicule with a balustrade below. Two large three-storey canted bays have window surrounds from 1906. The ground floor has moulded eared architraves with pulvinated frieze and modillion cornice. The first floor has moulded architraves with alternating pediments. The second floor has moulded architraves throughout. The two-storey addition features a three-bay Italian Renaissance style loggia of Ionic columns and pilasters with a string course. Above is a Venetian window with a French window and balustraded balcony, topped with a plain parapet.

The west entrance front is two storeys with an attic, comprising a nine-window range. A pedimented three-bay centre has a large painted porch of Ionic columns and half-columns. Double-leaf fielded six-panelled doors with fanlight sit in a moulded stone architrave with keystone. The sashes are in moulded stone architraves, with pediments to the ground floor and cornices above. The pediment contains an oculus with carved stone wreath and palm leaves. The left range has eight-pane sashes above a concave quadrant gallery. The right range has a string course, a tripartite window with cornice, and a Venetian window above. The right corner has a two-bay return side of the loggia, topped with a plain parapet.

The east front is three storeys with five bays, and a two-storey canted addition of around 1880 to the right. The detailing is similar to the south front. A single-storey projection to the third and fourth bays has a balustrade. The canted range has a central French window with a hipped roof and deep eaves. A single-storey three-bay roughcast range to the right has a modillion cornice and a large central 20th-century French window. An octagonal glazed cupola with lead roof crowns the composition.

The interior features a large entrance hall opening to a large open well staircase of Ashburnham House type. Several rooms have early 18th-century style plasterwork ceilings from around 1906. A doorway on the first floor has Italian Renaissance style ornamental pilasters, an entablature with winged heads and segmental panel, probably imported from elsewhere. The chapel and gallery are in Italian Renaissance style. The two-storey, five-bay gallery has a moulded sill course with a composite giant pilaster to the right. Pilasters run between each bay on the ground floor, with Tuscan half-columns above. The two-light casements on the first floor are round-arched with blind balustrading below and have bullion glazing. A moulded entablature crowns the gallery.

The chapel, dated 1908 and adjoining at right angles to the house, is built of limestone ashlar with a moulded plinth, entablature, and modillion cornice. It is single-storey with three bays. The pedimented front has ornamented giant composite angle pilasters. A datestone in the right corner bears the architect's name. The portal is of white marble with ornamented composite pilasters, a moulded entablature bearing griffons holding a shield, and a semi-circular pediment with antefixae and acroterion. The tympanum contains a relief copy of Raphael's Sposalizio, depicting the marriage of Saints Mary and Joseph. Small windows to the left and right have elaborately moulded architraves with iron grilles. A moulded wheel window sits above the entrance. Pediments to front and rear contain small oculi. A pedimented bellcote has a moulded round arch. The left return side has composite angle pilasters, the left with sunk panels and the right ornamented. Round-arched two-light windows at first-floor level have moulded arch and capitals, detached columns, arched lights with half and quarter columns, and tracery. A single-storey projecting pedimented range with a blind front adjoins. The irregular left return side has a panelled door in a moulded architrave and a moulded two-light mullioned window. The right return side has a two-light straight-headed window recessed behind paired round-arched openings. The chapel interior is now divided horizontally. The upper part has walls lined with white marble and a deep coffered part-gilded wooden ceiling.