Moreton Morrell Tennis Court

MORETON MORRELL

SP3055 VILLAGE STREET, Moreton Morrell 1901-1/11/153 (East side) 24/06/88 Moreton Morrell Tennis Court

GV II

Real tennis court. Dated 1905. For CT Garland of Moreton Hall. Brick in part with pebbledashed panels and ashlar or reconstructed ashlar dressings; hipped tiled and glazed roof with corner stacks. STYLE: Edwardian Baroque. PLAN: high single storey; 9-bay range with lower single-storey flat-roofed ranges to front and left return. Front to right. EXTERIOR: entrance to left of centre has doorcase with consoled segmental pediment and fanlight over half-glazed door; 4 steps up. Half-round bay window to left has blind balustrade above. Court set back and rises above lower range with brick pilasters and stone and brick frieze. Left return, facing road, has low range with flanking 3-window ranges set back with projection to each end; top stone and brick frieze, cornice and parapet with blind balustrading; centre has aedicule with Corinthian pilasters and open pediment framing blind Venetian window with crest and cartouche dated 1905 above; frieze continued either side over rendered panels and end pilasters. Flanking ranges have windows with sills and aprons, and lintels over; tripartite windows to end projections. Court rises above and has 7 pairs of 6/9 sash windows framed by brick giant pilasters; blank panels to either end; iron catwalk in front. Right return has similar details to court above blank panels, also framed by pilasters. INTERIOR: small entrance hall with mosaic floor, plaster relief panel and modillioned cornice. Dining room and club room have similar cornices, enriched plaster panels and central skylights, and Louis XV-style marble fireplaces, that to dining room of mauve marble. Dressing rooms, baths and showers said to have original fittings. The court is complete and has black plaster playing surface by Joseph Bickley; lean-to galleries; ashlar-scored plaster above, and rich cornice with festoons to frieze; slender iron roof trusses. Squash-tennis court has tongue-and-grooved panelling and gallery with balustrade. Principal gallery leads to workshop and professional's flat. A good example of a real tennis court still in use. (Shell Guides: Hickman, D: Warwickshire: London: 1979-: 131-2; Aberdare, Lord: The Willis Faber Book of Tennis and Rackets: 1980-: 281-2; Hamilton, Sir R: The Royal Game of Tennis (privately printed): 1971-).

Listing NGR: SP3112155508