Gillingham Hall

Gillingham Hall is a country house, dating from around 1600, with significant additions from the 18th and 19th centuries. The house is constructed of red brick, originally whitewashed, with slate and plain tile roofs. It is two storeys and has attics. The west facade is symmetrical, arranged over eleven bays, in a 1:1:3:1:3:1:1 layout. The windows are sashes with glazing bars, set within architraves, and have gauged skewback arches above the openings. Bays 2, 6, and 10 project forward as three-storey gabled sections, each with a coped parapet featuring moulded kneelers and moulded brick detailing at the base and apex. A moulded brick eaves course runs along the building. A prominent square chimney stack rises behind the most southern projection, with a square base and four octagonal shafts having moulded caps and bases. There is another square stack on the ridge line, slightly off-centre to the north, and an internal stack on the north gable. Two symmetrically placed, pedimented dormers are located in bays 4 and 8. A later two-storey gabled bathroom wing has been added to the north end. In the south gable, a 19th-century two-storey canted bay has been added, featuring tall sashes with glazing bars, rubbed arches, and two first-floor sashes with leaded glazing, indicating a chapel room. Nesting recesses are visible in the brickwork of the south gable. A two-storey block from the early 19th century is situated at the south-east corner, with tall ground floor sashes and glazing bars, and a shallow pitched slate roof. The north-east angle has a square staircase bay with two tall, segmental headed sashes and glazing bars, and a hipped slate roof concealed behind an eaves parapet. An off-centre tower is set against the east wall. This tower has a square, three-storey base which becomes octagonal for the upper three stories, with two-light windows featuring ovolo moulded mullions, surrounds, and leaded glazing. Blind openings are present on the north-east and south-east sides of the top storey. The tower is topped with a lead-covered domed roof, a louvred bell turret, and an ogee dome. Two attic dormers are present, one rebuilt in the 20th century. An 18th-century two-storey service range is located at the north-east corner, characterized by a hipped roof of black glazed pantiles. To the south of the service range are two ground floor tripartite windows with glazing bars in semicircular-headed openings, and three first-floor sashes with glazing bars, all featuring a brick dentil eaves detail. The east wall is colourwashed and has an irregular pattern of sashes with glazing bars and casements with leaded glazing. Inside, a fine staircase from around 1700 is present, with carved tread ends, three turned balusters per tread, and raised and fielded dado panelling to the walls.