Chilston Park

Chilston Park is a country house of late 15th or early 16th-century origin, substantially altered in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. It is constructed of red brick in English bond, except for the central section and adjoining walls, which are in red brick Flemish bond. The rear elevation employs red and grey rubbed brick in Flemish bond. Diaper work appears on the front of the left wing. The building is covered with a plain tile roof.

The house is planned as a courtyard type with an E-plan front elevation. The front and east elevations were re-roofed and re-fenestrated in the late 17th or early 18th century. A central break, replacing a three-storey porch, was introduced in 1728, along with other alterations. The east wing underwent further changes in the late 18th or early 19th century. In the 1880s, substantial alterations were made and the courtyard was infilled.

The north front elevation rises to 2 storeys with attics. A moulded stone plinth, re-worked around the central break, runs beneath. Late 17th or early 18th-century rubbed brick plat bands appear over the ground-floor windows, except to the central break. An Ionic modillioned wooden eaves cornice, continued around a central pediment, crowns the elevation. The right and left wings are hipped to the front and feature 19th-century gables to the rear. Tall brick ridge stacks stand towards each end of the central section. Four dormers with segmental heads and thick glazing bars pierce the roof. A Diocletian window lights the pediment. The regular 9-window front comprises recessed 12-pane sashes with thick glazing bars, stone cills, and rubbed brick voussoirs. Two windows serve each wing, one towards each end of the main range, and three deeply recessed windows with slightly segmental heads serve the central break. A central 19th-century red brick porch, approached by four stone steps, features a moulded stone cornice on consoles flanking a re-used 18th-century doorway. The door comprises double doors of three fielded panels each, with a semi-circular Gothick fanlight above. A 1728 datestone sits beneath the Diocletian window.

The east elevation displays a plain modillioned wooden eaves cornice and four dormers. Five recessed 24-pane sashes with rubbed brick voussoirs light the upper floor. Four 12-pane sashes with shutter hinges, rubbed brick voussoirs, and plat bands serve the ground floor. An early-to-mid 18th-century canted bay, rising two storeys and canted toward the north end, features a plain brick parapet. This bay contains two 8-pane and one 12-pane sash to each floor, with blind boxes to the first floor. Tall double doors with sunk panels, a Gibbs surround, and a triangular pediment sit beneath the fourth window from the left.

At the south end of the east wing stands an early 19th-century conservatory constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with a glazed roof. The rectangular structure features a small octagonal room to its south end and rises a single storey with a moulded brick cornice. The pitched glazed roof is surmounted by a glazed conical roof over the octagon, crowned with a weather vane. Six 12-pane top-hung casements with rubbed brick voussoirs light each side, and four smaller casements serve the octagon. Internal access is provided from the east wing, and central half-glazed double doors open to the south side of the octagon.

The interior contains notable features spanning several centuries. A 16th-century three-light stone mullioned window serves the courtyard side of the west wing. A 17th or early 18th-century staircase occupies the north-west corner of the former courtyard. An early 18th-century entrance hall features a black and white stone floor, a Doric colonnade across the rear, and a plastered ceiling of shallow sunk panels. Four plastered ceilings, probably dating to circa 1728 to the mid-18th century, display varying designs including one with rococo "papier-mache" detail and another deeply coved. Moulded cornices and 18th-century fireplaces, together with period doorcases, are distributed throughout. An imperial staircase of 1880, introduced when the courtyard was infilled, now occupies this space. Carved panelling of circa 1540, probably originally from Royton Chapel, is incorporated into the staircase hall.