Mathern Palace

Mathern Palace is constructed of local rubble stone, predominantly of a yellow hue, with stone tile roofs and some sections of pantiles. The building originally followed a quadrangular plan, which was traditional in the late Middle Ages for important houses and institutions such as schools. What survives today comprises the entrance tower at the centre of the north-east range, approximately half of the north-west range (which was extended around 1900), and the north-east corner block of the south-east range. The site also includes the granary, which was once the Bishop's chapel attached to the north-west corner, and the kitchen and service wing at the north-east corner extending eastward. Much of the building is obscured by foliage, making a complete assessment difficult.

The entrance front features a tall, roughly square tower with a slight taper that incorporates the main hall stack and has been considerably heightened, possibly by 3 or 4 metres, during the Tipping period of occupation (1894-1912). The tower contains the main wheel stair and has four slit windows at different levels, rising to a plain parapet with no visible roof. The hall stack is attached to the left and rises slightly higher than the tower. To the right is the main entrance, a 3-centred arch originally serving as a carriage entrance into the courtyard, now fitted with a large panelled door, probably from the Tipping period. This three-storey block features a two-storey canted oriel above the entrance with 1 + 2 + 1 lights with 2-centred heads in rectangular frames and diamond lattice windows. The apron of the lower oriel has a carved cartouche resembling half an orange, which is the emblem of Bishop John Marshall. Two small closet windows appear to the right of this, with two more in the return. The next set-back section is one bay with 2-light windows on each floor as before and a gabled return to the right. Attached to this is another range that appears older in detail, though the interior roof detail suggests it was added to the previously described range. This range presents its gable to the front and contains windows that appear to date to around 1400, presumably from the original build of Bishop John de la Zouch's time. A tall lancet features one trefoil-headed light above another, serving as the window of the current main staircase, which is Victorian; the window is probably two medieval windows reset at that time. A 2-light mullion and transom window follows, with all four lights having trefoil heads. A very small 2-light trefoil-headed window sits in the gable above. The return wall of this range has a 2-light window from around 1900 with a ridge stack behind. Next comes a single-storey wing with a granary over a cider cellar, said to be a 19th-century conversion of the Bishop's chapel. A door rises up a small flight of steps, with a single gabled half-dormer featuring a modern casement to the right.

The rear elevation begins with a wing projecting to the south-west. This range, which has two storeys and an attic, appears to date to the early 16th century and features 3 and 4-light stone mullioned windows, though Virginia creeper obscures the details considerably, particularly on the courtyard side. Tipping extended the range with characteristic 3 and 4-light oak mullioned windows with leaded lattices, similar to those used at his other houses, Mounton House and High Glanau in Mitcheltroy Community. The extension takes the form of a summer sitting-room with the main room on the upper floor, featuring continuous oak mullioned glazing round three sides and a gabled roof with a boarded gable. The ground floor is in stone and has a door with a bracketed hood and a 3-light lattice casement. A tall stack rises on the main range. The rear elevation of the entrance tower comprises two bays. The ground floor has a 2-light casement with 2-centred heads in a recessed frame and an arch similar to that on the front elevation, but with glazed doors. The first floor features a 2-light window and a 4-light window over the door; the second floor has two 2-light windows. The roof is hipped to the right with a centre ridge stack and a left gable stack. The range to the right has a 4-light window on each floor, with the roof continuing forward in a pantiled slope, though the windows are largely obscured; a 4-light window appears on the ground floor. The kitchen and service wing now joins, with mostly oak windows from the Tipping period. The end gable of the house on the north-east side has a 4-light window on each floor, the lower one with a flat head and the upper one with a 2-centred head and a combination of two 2-light windows with a king mullion. This returns to an outside stone stair over an arched doorway into the service end. The stair rises to a small doorway, now a window, and a Tipping 2-light window. The main range returns to the entrance tower with a 4-light window below and a single light with a 4-light window above. Finally, the hall stack and stair tower complete the circuit.

The interior of the palace is predominantly 16th-century in origin, but has been heavily overlaid first by the Arts and Crafts style of Avray Tipping and Eric Francis in the 1890s, and subsequently by corporate interior design for British Steel in the 1990s, making the original features difficult to recognise. Nearly all bedrooms have been given en-suite facilities, which often appropriately occupy medieval closets but tend to disguise their features or alter room proportions.

The Dining Room contains an 18th-century marble fireplace in the Adam style, probably introduced by Tipping. The Parlour has a 16th-century roll-moulded ceiling and a Tudor-type fireplace that may be Tipping's work. The Billiard Room features ovolo mouldings on the inner faces of the windows, probably from the Tipping period. The kitchen has a medieval lancet in the larder. The original tower staircase retains its stone spiral. The present main staircase appears to be late Victorian, possibly by Tipping, with a late 17th-century-type splat baluster rail. The ceiling above appears to be supported on the range to the south, though this may represent no more than a Victorian alteration. Several bedrooms retain 16th-century doorways and fireplaces. The Avray Tipping Room has blue Arts and Crafts panelling. The William Burges Room is said to have been used by Burges and is furnished with appropriate reproductions. The Bishop de la Zouch Room has windows with hollow chamfers and Tipping panelling, and features 17th-century chamfered ceiling beams with bar-and-runout stops. The Bishop Marshall Room has chamfered beams with a plain runout. The only part of the roof structure in the main house available for inspection was that over the main staircase, which features a queen strut apparently dating to the 17th century. The roof of the granary, visible from one of the bedrooms, dates to the 19th century.