Childerley Hall

Childerley Hall is a surviving wing of a late 16th-century mansion built for the fourth Sir John Cutts (died 1615), and remodelled circa 1850 in a Tudor-Gothic style by General Calvert. The hall’s painted 17th-century chamber is of particular note, and reflects group value as an outstanding example of a country house with significant historical connections.

The original structure is of red brick, with diaper patterning now largely obscured by 19th-century grouting. The dressings are of limestone and Roman cement, and the roof is covered with plain tiles. The building is two storeys and attics, comprising the late 16th-century main east-west solar range with 19th-century extensions to the north and north-east. The south elevation was rebuilt in the 19th century, reusing the original brick walls and incorporating new fenestration. It features four ground-floor and four first-floor mullioned casement windows, with two gabled three-light dormer windows above. A single-storey gabled entrance porch with a studded panelled door in a round-headed moulded arch is situated on the right-hand side; this was likely originally two storeys high, and stands in the position of an original entrance to a cross passage with a staircase turret to the east gable. A 19th-century end stack is present on the west gable, and two original side stacks have rebuilt shafts; the stack on the left-hand side is flanked by a gabled staircase turret (Pelhan), which was remodelled as an oriel window. The parapet has a moulded stone cornice and coping, with a cemented plinth continued in the recessed north-east wing, which features a single two-light window and an attic window.

The interior of the ground and first floors to the east of the 16th-century wing includes rooms with roll-moulded intersecting ceiling beams, and 18th-century chimney pieces, possibly introduced in the 19th century. One first-floor room, known as King Charles’s chamber, has a painted frieze and panels on boards covering three walls. The frieze displays an early 17th-century strapwork design featuring figures and animals, with the Royal Arms of the Stuarts bearing the date ‘CR 1647’ (possibly a 19th-century addition) above. The arms of the fourth Sir John Cutts and his second wife are painted on the east and west walls, respectively. Five late 17th-century painted panels are present in a Flemish style reminiscent of tapestries. Each panel is bordered by exotic festoons of fruits and flowers and a dark design of tangled undergrowth populated with hounds, owls, serpents, monkeys, and birds, including fruits and drooping tulips. The design suggests a possible memorial to Charles I, who was confined at Childerley Hall for one night in June 1647, when he met Fairfax. A cartouche in the centre panel of the north wall holding the arms of General Calvert may conceal a hatchment relating to the deceased King.