Chapel House

Chapel House

A stucco-fronted house painted throughout, with Welsh slate roofs. The building comprises two parallel ranges with a central entrance leading to a stair in the rear range. A lower service range projects from the north gable of the front range, and the rear range, which is longer, rises behind part of it when viewed from the street.

The street-facing east elevation has two storeys and an attic, with seven windows arranged in a 2:3:2 pattern, the three centre window bays being narrower. The elevation features quoins and band courses at first and attic floor levels. A prominent open pedimented doorcase with fluted pilasters contains double panel doors with a fanlight incorporating space for a lantern. All windows are late 18th-century type 6 over 6 pane sashes, though set within openings of early 18th-century proportion. The roof is hipped overall, with four dormers featuring hipped roofs and 6 over 3 pane sashes. Notably, the roof has no chimneys.

The service and stable wing attached to the right north gable is two storeys high, with mostly replacement features including one 6 over 6 pane sash and a plain doorway with a hood on console brackets. This wing retains a plain roof with one chimney stack.

The left-hand south gable is blank walling but has three additional similar dormers in the roof line.

The garden-facing west elevation is similar to the street front but wider, with eight window bays where the outer bays are set slightly wider apart than the centre six. A panelled door with a pedimented hood on shaped brackets is positioned in the fifth bay from the left. All windows are 6 over 6 pane sashes of late 18th-century type, again set within early 18th-century proportioned openings. The roof is hipped overall with five dormers in the same style and likewise has no chimneys.

To the left, the rear elevation of the service wing contains various small sash windows. A small gabled building positioned in the angle between the service wing and main range features an early 19th-century arched window with an 8 over 8 pane sash and an interlace head.

The interior entry opens into a panelled hall with an apparently late 17th-century plaster ceiling featuring a central roundel. However, as no other part of the house appears to date from the late 17th century, this is either a deliberate archaism inspired by earlier houses in the town or an Edwardian addition. Paired doorways with panelled jambs and soffit lead to the stair hall, which contains a fine staircase with a cut string, three twisted balusters on each tread, a square bottom newel (with the other three newels featuring grouped balusters), and a moulded ramped handrail. This is complemented by matching dado panelling on the wall. The top landing has two 6-panel doors with shouldered architraves and tympana above. The stair compartment is ceiled by another piece of plasterwork with a central roundel and wreathed surround, which is similarly old-fashioned for 1720. The staircase appears to be a conscious imitation of the one at Troy House (circa 1673) and perhaps the plasterwork also drew inspiration from there or from Great Castle House. The ground floor contains two fine fully panelled rooms, and there is a secondary stair of classic early 18th-century type with a closed string, steep pitch and stout turned balusters. Much of the panelling and plasterwork in its present form probably dates from the restoration carried out by Humphrey Farran Hall in 1910, with one room inscribed and dated to this period.