Cranmore Hall, Walling And Gazebo, Now Part Of All Hallows School

Cranmore Hall, along with its associated walling and gazebo, is a large country house situated within an emparked landscape and now forming the main portion of All Hallows School. While retaining elements from the 17th and 18th centuries, the main structure was largely rebuilt and extended between 1830 and 1860 for the Paget family, with principal work in 1856 by architect T.H. Wyatt. A later orangery was added to the east in 1868 by Henry Ormison. Minor alterations have occurred due to the building’s current use.

The house is constructed of ashlar stone, with some rubble, and has slate roofs with coped verges. Some gables are shaped and emphasised by tall, grouped ashlar stacks, some square and some polygonal, topped with metal pennants. The eastern range has a hipped roof and wrought-iron cresting. The building follows an irregular, roughly L-shaped plan, incorporating a loggia and orangery to the east. The architectural style is a blend of Jacobean and loose Italianate, with the west front potentially resembling the facade of an earlier building.

The west front exhibits a roughly symmetrical arrangement, spanning three storeys and attics, with a bay arrangement of 1:1:2:1:2:1. Certain bays project, with the first bay featuring a parapet and coping, the second under a gable with a canted bay window, and the sixth with a canted stone oriel window on the first floor and a strapwork parapet. Windows are predominantly two- and three-light stone-mullioned, with stopped labels and some transoms. A canted stone bay window with a strapwork parapet is located on the ground floor. The entrance features a single-storeyed porch with a semi-circular head outer door opening, enriched key, pilasters with strapwork ornament, a strapwork parapet with a central lozenge, and an encaustic tile floor within, leading to paired three-quarter glazed doors.

Attached to the left of the front is a lower building, dating from the 17th century and now used as a chapel, with a cruciform plan. It has two storeys and a bay arrangement of 1:1, featuring two-, three-, and four-light stone-mullioned windows to the ground floor, with leaded lights. The chapel is roofed with fishscale tiles, topped by a polygonal bell-turret with a cupola, arcaded openings, and a large pennant finial. A square base displays a clock with Roman numerals on three faces.

The east elevation incorporates an arcaded loggia, and the orangery, now used as classrooms, is characterised by a strapwork parapet and obelisk finials. A front forecourt and parterre are located to the south, enclosed by walling. At the southwest corner, a gazebo, appearing to date from the mid-18th century, features an ogee-shaped fishscale slate roof with a finial, a square plan with one bay on each elevation, sash windows with glazing bars, and paired half-glazed doors to the east. An entrance forecourt features serpentine walls with a strapwork parapet, supported by three pairs of piers with ball finials.

The interior reveals elements from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Notably, a high-quality hall screen, an ornamental chimneypiece with flanking columns, several carved floorcases, and some 18th-century panelling and doors were likely repurposed from an earlier house. The Victorian work is of high quality, executed in a Jacobean style, and includes chimneypieces, panelling, a staircase, ornamental plasterwork, and doors.