Whittington Court

Whittington Court is a grade I listed manor house, probably begun by Richard Cotton, who died in 1556 (commemorated by a brass in the neighbouring church). The building dates from the 16th century, with significant additions in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and a kitchen wing added in 1929.

The house is constructed in ashlar with a stone slate roof and follows a rectangular plan. The main 16th-century range is complemented by a late 17th- and early 18th-century east wing positioned at right angles to the principal body. A 20th-century kitchen range occupies the right side of the main body, probably on the site of a former west wing that may have been destroyed by fire. A stair extension projects into the angle between the east wing and the rear of the 16th-century range.

The entrance front displays the 16th-century main body in three storeys with three gables. These gables are lit by three-light metal casements, some with diamond leaded panes set within hollow-chamfered stone-mullioned surrounds with triangular pediments above each window. The central and left-hand bays feature four-light hollow-chamfered stone-mullioned casements with transoms and king mullions. A ground-floor window in the central gable has similar treatment with rectangular leaded panes. Band and string mouldings run across the ground and first floors. The right-hand gable originally marked the centre of the building and once had a two-storey porch, now demolished. A nineteenth-century 1½-storey extension at the front of the right-hand gable conceals a plank door within a finely moulded Tudor-arched surround with panelled spandrels. The left-hand wall of this extension contains an early studded plank door with a flat-chamfered shouldered surround. The kitchen range is lit by two, three and four-light stone-mullioned casements, one with a transom.

The late 17th- and early 18th-century east wing projects forward slightly to the left and displays an eight-light two-storey canted bay with transom and king mullion, featuring hollow and stepped mouldings to the mullions. String and band mouldings sit above the ground and first floor windows respectively. The east side of the west wing has four windows, all four-light stone-mullioned casements with king mullions, most retaining rectangular leaded panes. Two hipped roof dormers light the upper storey—one with a two-light casement and the other with a three-light casement, both with leaded panes.

The gabled left-hand wall of the stair projection is lit by three-light stone-mullioned windows with transoms and a three-light stone-mullioned casement to the upper right. String and band mouldings are stepped under and over the windows. A segmental rainwater head dated and initialled "T.T. 1763" (Thomas Tracey) is notable. A gable to the left of the rainwater head has a three-light hollow-chamfered stone-mullioned casement towards the apex, one light with diamond leaded panes, and an oriel window below with hollow-moulded stone-mullions. A nineteenth-century plank door within a finely moulded Tudor-arched surround with panelled spandrels opens to the ground floor. A nineteenth-century open-fronted single two-bay summer house or store occupies the angle between the west wing and stair projection, divided by a circular stone pier.

The main roof features saddleback gable end coping with pointed finials, axial, lateral and gable end stacks. The east wing has an early 18th-century hipped roof.

Interior features are substantial. The hall contains a 16th- to 17th-century Tudor-arched fireplace with moulded surround and defaced stops, alongside a similar nineteenth-century fireplace with moulded mantelshelf. Eighteenth-century fielded panelling lines the entrance hall. A fine late 17th-century open well staircase displays turned balusters and newels with strapwork enrichment, formerly embellished with pendants and finials. A dog gate features splat balusters.

The library contains a magnificent carved stone Renaissance chimneypiece of two superimposed orders in Artisan Mannerist style. Large gadrooned consoles flank a Tudor-arched fireplace, with a Doric order above and a moulded overmantel centred by an oval strapwork-enriched cartouche flanked by inverted splayed pilasters with Ionic capitals. (The fireplace may not be in its original position.) A rear room in the east wing has a stylized foliate frieze and contains a 17th-century Tudor-arched fireplace with moulded surround and shelf supported on brackets with pendant drops. Two similar fireplaces in upstairs rooms also contain corner cupboards incorporating nulled 17th-century panelling and fluted newels. Numerous tall round-headed stone archways with keystones and imposts occur throughout the house. The rafter and purlin roof is open to the top floor.

Historically, the house was built by John Cotton in 1556 on an earlier moated site. It subsequently passed to Sir John Denham, who died in 1669 and served as Surveyor General to Charles II. The property then passed through the female line to the Earls of Derby and by the mid- to late 18th century belonged to Thomas Tracey, who died in 1770 and was also owner of Sandywell Park. Following Tracey's death, Misses Timbrell and Mrs Rebecca Lighbourne inherited the property; having no direct heirs, it passed to Mr Walter Lawrence Morris and subsequently to his descendants, who adopted the name Lawrence.