Gatehouse To Charlecote Park

The gatehouse to Charlecote Park, built around 1560, is a remarkable brick building faced with limestone ashlar dressings and is now used as a museum. It is designated as a building of group value. The design is symmetrical, with a three-window front and an octagonal turret at each corner, rising to three stories. The east facade features a round-headed moulded archway, topped with paired wrought-iron gates dated 1722 by T Parris. The archway has imposts, a keystone with a jewelled soffit, and a drip course extending along the facade, which is topped by a parapet with pierced rosette detailing. The ground floor has ovolo-mullioned cross-mullioned windows, with matching windows above. A bracketed canted oriel window sits centrally above the entrance, with a transomed 1:3:1-light window displaying the painted coat of arms of Lucy impaling Spencer, within a wreath and strapwork frame. Each turret has two-light windows, an entablature, and an ogival cupola topped with a ball finial and weather vane; the turret to the left incorporates clock faces dated 1824. All windows have leaded glazing, with much original crown glass. The rear elevation is similar, with a raised drip course above the entrance arch, a fluted key stone, and flanking three-light mullioned and transomed windows, along with two cross-mullion windows and a central bracketed stone panel. The north and south ends also feature cross-mullioned windows, with a two-light stair window to the south. The interior passage has two bays of rib vaulting with large pendant bosses, an impost course, and a cornice over an elliptical-headed entrance featuring a studded door and flanking shell-head alcoves. A timber-framed partition and dogleg stair are located to the north, while the south side features a room with a moulded Tudor-arched corner fireplace with a cornice and a Tudor-arched corner doorway. The first-floor museum area has a similar fireplace and doorway, along with doorways to the turret rooms. Panelled and battened doors feature throughout. A north-west room contains a round-headed timber doorway with a 17th-century panelled door and a fireplace retaining traces of paint. The gatehouse is a well-preserved structure and is owned by the National Trust.