Chavenage House And Chapel

Chavenage House and Chapel is a manor house with an attached chapel, largely dating from 1576 when it was built by Edward Stephens. It occupies the site of an earlier house and was expanded in the 17th century, altered in the 18th century by Rev Richard Stephens, and further enlarged to the southwest in 1904-5 by John Micklethwaite. The house is constructed of random coursed rubble stone with flush quoins, and has a stone slate roof with several stone ridge and end stacks; some stacks are diagonally paired and feature ashlar flues, moulded cornices, and one polygonal flue with a carved cap. A very large, stepped external stack is located on the north side.

The original core of the house is E-shaped, with two stories and an attic. A central porch faces east, with smaller wings added to the north and south, probably in the 17th century, and a large southwest cross wing from the early 20th century. The porch leads into an open screens passage, with a hall to the left and a kitchen and buttery to the right, separated by a Tudor-arched door. Windows are predominantly hollow-moulded, 2-light stone mullions or single lights with square hoodmoulds, and some arched or cusped lights likely originating from the ruins of Horsley Priory. To the left of the porch are two large, 3-light, 3-tiered stone mullion and transom windows with arched lights and some stained glass, illuminating the great hall. The porch itself features a 2-light trefoil with a quatrefoil and hoodmould, above a square-headed doorway with a lozenge-carved lintel, a square hoodmould with diamond stops, and the initials "ES 1576". Dormer windows with 2-light leaded casements are present on each side of the porch. A small projecting gabled section sits in the angle to the left, facing the central gable of the wing to the right. The south side features castellated bays and a parapet added in the 18th century, along with a large, single-story bow window to the south gable end of the 1904 wing. That wing's west side has 2 or 3-light stone fenestration.

Inside, the former open hall now has a ceiling, incorporating an altered minstrels’ gallery over a 16th-century screen, and a Renaissance-style fireplace dating from around 1680. An adjacent dining room contains panelling dated 1627 and a contemporary Gothic fireplace. Upper rooms contain Mortlake Tapestries from the early 17th century. The Chapel comprises a tower built around 1700 as a folly, with two stages, stepped diagonal buttresses, an embattled parapet with corner pinnacles, and a service staircase. The west side is heavily ornamented with sculpted niches. The main body of the chapel dates from around 1800 and connects it to the house. The chapel interior is inaccessible. Chavenage House has strong historical associations with Cromwell and the Civil War, and much of the structure remains unaltered since the 16th and 17th centuries.