Willington Cross

The Willington Cross is a large, substantially altered brick house with origins in the late 16th or early 17th century. It was significantly expanded during the 19th century. The house is constructed of brown brick, partially rendered, and has a slate roof. The main elevation, now rendered, features two curvilinear gables of unequal size. Historic photographs indicate the gables were originally decorated with carved elements. A 1793 painting shows the early brick house had three Flemish gables, two paired on the right side of the elevation, and the frontage has since been re-fenestrated with leaded, timber casement windows. A window above the front door has been bricked up, and a wing and its stack were demolished from the right side. The rear elevation is three stories high and features three gables, along with a projecting two-story 19th-century extension from the middle bay and a single-story lean-to. The gables are demarcated by a dentilated brick band similar to that found on other local houses, such as Bedwell Hall, Sesswick, and Hem House, Rossett. A further brick band is located between the ground and first floor of the facade, and the ground-floor windows have brick hood-moulds.

The front door leads into a hall, which houses a fireplace to the left with a large bressummer and wide oak floorboards. To the right, the original doorway to the timber-framed house is set within a square-framed partition wall. The sitting room contains H-hinges on a cupboard door, and most doors throughout the house are ledged and boarded, with some retaining wooden latches. The rear wall of the hall, which was originally an external wall, retains a large three-light mullion and transom window. A fine, full-height 17th-century dog-leg staircase features a moulded rail, square moulded newels with pierced finials and pendants, pierced balusters, closed strings with carved patterns (which differ between flights), and decorative arcading to the risers. A further three-light mullion and transom window is located on the first floor, also from an original external wall. Glass in a window at the western end of the passage is inscribed with scratched names and dates, including "John Boot 1808" and "Ethan Jones 1775." One bedroom retains an 18th-century plaster cornice, an encased beam, and a moulded fire surround. The attic storey reveals the queen-post struts of the gable ends of the sub-medieval house.