The Register Office, formerly the Cheylesmore Manor gatehouse and cross-wings

The Register Office, formerly the Cheylesmore Manor gatehouse and cross-wings

This is a timber-framed gatehouse with cross-wings, originally built as part of a 14th-century manor house. The structure was restored in the mid-20th century by FWB Charles.

The building stands on a plinth of roughly-hewn sandstone blocks and has a tiled roof. It comprises three distinct sections: a 14th-century south-eastern cross-wing, a 16th-century three-bay gatehouse, and a 15th-century north-western cross-wing. The gatehouse is oriented roughly north-west to south-east, with a central carriageway arch that originally provided access to the manorial buildings, now demolished, to the south.

The south-eastern cross-wing is constructed from large box framing with substantial curved struts and braces. It projects forward on the south-west elevation where it has been truncated from the former manorial buildings. It has a pitched roof with shallowly overhanging eaves. All windows have been replaced with casements in timber mullioned frames, installed in the 1960s.

The three-bay gatehouse is of close-studded timber-framed construction beneath a pitched tiled roof. The central carriageway arch also has close-studded walls with a doorway featuring a depressed-arch head. The gatehouse is symmetrical on its north-east elevation. On the south-west elevation, the rightmost bay is obscured by a timber weather-boarded staircase.

The north-western cross-wing is also of close-studded construction. Its north-east elevation features an upper-floor overhang above an open ground floor, where a thick masonry wall at the junction with the gatehouse encloses the ground floor. A timber post supports the northern corner of the overhanging upper storey. Within this wall is a doorway with a pointed-arch head. The cross-wing projects forward of the gatehouse on the south-west elevation, which has a strip of casements on the first floor and glass infilling in the timber framing on the ground-floor return.

Internally, the 14th-century south-eastern cross-wing is subdivided into a ceremony room called the Library Room and a lobby with toilets on the ground floor. The large box-framing of the timber frame is exposed, with several timbers replaced to replicate the original form. The floor frame, with deep beams and roughly-hewn joists, retains a greater proportion of historic timbers. Upstairs are two rooms: a ceremony room called the Manor Room and an ante room. The southern roof truss within the ante room has a collar and tie beam with a collar purlin supported by a brace at either end. The rafters are roughly hewn and tied at the collar with pole timbers. The central and northern trusses are of queen-post form, with braces rising from the wall-frame posts. There is a single rank of purlins and coupled rafters with wind-braces. Within the Manor Room is a central jointed upper-cruck truss rising from the wall plate. The wall-frame posts and braces are substantial, and on the north-west wall they abut the studwork of the adjacent gatehouse. A low doorway with canted head connects the two.

The gatehouse ground floor contains three bays. The central bay is void, forming the carriageway arch. The other two bays are used as a store room and waiting room. The waiting room, abutting the southern cross-wing and sharing much of its wall framing, has corner posts supporting a beam holding the joists above. The walls are of close-stud construction with corner struts. The store room has the same general form of construction but contains a wide stone fireplace on the party wall with the northern cross-wing. The stone is roughly hewn with chamfers to the opening, and the lintel has been replaced in concrete. The first floor contains a large ceremony room called the Black Prince Room occupying the northern two bays, and a waiting room in the southern bay. The Black Prince Room has a wide fireplace with a moulded surround. A huge slab of stone forms the lintel, shaped to a depressed arch with roll mouldings. The chimney recedes to the wall plate. Walls are close-studded with a mid-rail. The trusses at either end have deep collar and tie beams, with a single rank of purlins and wind-braces. The central truss consists of a tie beam with raking struts rising to the purlins. The adjacent waiting room has similar framing.

The northern cross-wing is a single bay on the ground floor, occupied by a stair. The rear wall is built in masonry with a doorway featuring an ogee arch and chamfered surround. Otherwise walls are close-studded timber frames with frequent replacement timbers. The open-well stair is thought to originate in the 15th or 16th century and rises to a landing providing access to a manager's office on the first floor and to the Black Prince Room. The stair has been largely rebuilt with a closed string, open risers, and square newels. Several original newel posts have been retained, featuring spade-shaped finials and pendants. The manager's office contains a fireplace similar to that in the Black Prince Room, with a slightly cambered head and roll mouldings. The roof structure within the northern cross-wing has coupled rafters with a single rank of purlins and wind-braces, and trusses with a collar and tie beam with studwork between.