Coldham Hall

Coldham Hall is a large country house dating from 1574, originally built for Robert Rookwood. The main block is recessed between two cross-wings, creating a balanced, symmetrical appearance. The house is constructed of red brick, with decorative diaper patterns made from burnt headers on the front and hall chimney. The parapets and gable ends are also brick, topped with limestone copings and ball finials. The roofs are covered in red clay tiles, with substantial brick gable and rear chimneys. Prominent chimneys feature groups of two or three octagonal shafts, largely rebuilt in the 19th century, with heavy, star-shaped tops and moulded bases set on a square plinth. The hall chimney retains its original moulded bases, though the shafts have been reconstructed.

The windows are mullioned and transomed, set within rendered brick surrounds. Ground-floor windows and those in the gables and porch feature pediments. The leaded lights include some crown glass and original or early iron casements with fittings. A splayed bay window is located in the great hall, also with mullions and transomes. A row of dummy windows is incorporated into the left-hand gable, concealing a chimney.

A three-storey entrance porch features fluted, tapered pilasters that clasp the corners. The semi-circular arched entrance, set within a square frame, is surmounted by a pediment bearing the date 1574 and the initials R.R. (Robert Rookwood). An oak panelled door is located within the porch, with another oak panelled door providing access directly into each wing through doorways with elliptical arched heads within square frames.

The great hall extends through two storeys and contains an impressive open fireplace with an arched head and a crude, black-painted pediment with ball finials above. A panelled cross-passage screen with a pair of doors and blank arcading, incorporating turned balusters, separates the hall. The ceiling is plastered into four quadrants, each with a central square ribbed panel displaying high-relief motifs of acorns and oak leaves, repeated in the corners of each quadrant.

The solar, adjoining the minstrels' gallery, has full wainscotting and a limestone fireplace surround with an arched head and classical pediment. The main staircase rises in short, straight flights. A full-height screen of two tiers of turned balusters with a middle rail is located on the landing. Mouldings, including doorcases and window mullions, are ovolo-moulded, reflecting contemporary styles.

A long gallery, extending for 32 metres, runs above the great hall within the roof space. Internal alterations were undertaken around 1770. These include a Roman Catholic chapel, accessible from the long gallery, which is decorated with delicate plasterwork in the Strawberry Hill Gothick style, featuring architraves, pilasters and a dove with radiating sunlight above the altar wall. Several rooms have been fitted with panelling and good-quality joinery.

Mid-19th century alterations included loggias on the east and south sides, which have since been removed, though rear window alterations and a service wing at the north end remain. The house was restored around 1980. Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Rookwood's son, was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot and executed in 1605. The Rookwood family maintained their Roman Catholic faith, as evidenced by the presence of two chapels and several hiding places for priests.