Crewe Hall is a Jacobean mansion located near Crewe Green, east of

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

, in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England. Described by Nikolaus Pevsner as one of the two finest Jacobean houses in Cheshire,Pevsner & Hubbard, p. 22 it is listed at grade I. Built in 1615–36 for Sir Randolph Crewe, it was one of the county's largest houses in the 17th century, and was said to have "brought London into Cheshire". The hall was extended in the late 18th century and altered by

Edward Blore Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. Early career He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore. Blore's backg ...

in the early Victorian era. It was extensively restored by E. M. Barry after a fire in 1866, and is considered among his best works.de Figueiredo & Treuherz, pp. 66–71 Other artists and craftsmen employed during the restoration include J. Birnie Philip, J. G. Crace, Henry Weekes and the firm of Clayton and Bell. The interior is elaborately decorated and contains many fine examples of wood carving, chimneypieces and plasterwork, some of which are Jacobean in date. The park was landscaped during the 18th century by

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

, William Emes, John Webb and Humphry Repton, and formal gardens were designed by

W. A. Nesfield William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881) was an English soldier, landscape architect and artist. After a career in the military which saw him serve under the Duke of Wellington, he developed a second profession as a landscape architect, designing so ...

in the 19th century. On the estate are cottages designed by Nesfield's son, William Eden Nesfield, which Pevsner considered to have introduced features such as tile hanging and pargetting into Cheshire. The stables quadrangle is contemporary with the hall and is listed at grade II*. The hall remained the seat of various branches of the Crewe family until 1936, when the land was sold to the Duchy of Lancaster. It was used as offices after the Second World War, serving as the headquarters for the Wellcome Foundation for nearly thirty years. As of 2019, it is used as a hotel, restaurant and health club.

History

Sir Randolph Crewe, Civil War and the Restoration

was the seat of the de Crewe (or de Criwa) family in the 12th and 13th centuries; they built a timber-framed manor house there in around 1170.Curran, pp. 2,5 The

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

passed to the de Praers family of Barthomley in 1319 by the marriage of Johanna de Crewe to Richard de Praers. Later in the 14th century it passed to the Fouleshurst (or Foulehurst) family, who held the manor jointly with that of Barthomley until around 1575, when the estate was dispersed. Legal problems resulted in the lands being acquired by Sir Christopher Hatton, from whose heirs Sir Randolph Crewe (1559–1646) purchased an extensive estate including the manors of Crewe, Barthomley and Haslington in 1608 for over £6,000 (£ today). Born in nearby Nantwich, reputedly the son of a

tanner Tanner may refer to: * Tanner (occupation), the tanning of leather and hides People * Tanner (given name), * Tanner (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *The Tanner Sisters, also referred to as "The Harbingers of Weir ...

, Sir Randolph (or Ranulph) had risen through the legal profession to become a judge, member of parliament and the parliamentary Speaker. His fortune derived from his successful practice in

chancery Chancery may refer to: Offices and administration * Chancery (diplomacy), the principal office that houses a diplomatic mission or an embassy * Chancery (medieval office), responsible for the production of official documents * Chancery (Scotlan ...

and other London courts. He briefly served as Lord Chief Justice in 1625–26, but was dismissed by Charles I for his refusal to endorse a forced loan without the consent of parliament. He divided his enforced retirement between his London house and the Crewe estate. In 1615, he commenced building a substantial hall at Crewe,Pevsner & Hubbard, pp. 191–194 either adjacent to the old house, which was by then in disrepair, or after demolishing it.Chambers, pp. 14–15 He later wrote that "it hath pleased God of his abundant goodness to reduce the house and Mannor of the name to the name againe." Mrs Crewe (Thomas Gainsborough)

A few years after the hall's completion in 1636, Civil War broke out. Like most of the legal families of Cheshire, the Crewe family was parliamentarian, and the hall was used as a garrison. In December 1643, royalist forces under the command of Lord Byron occupied the area as they surrounded Nantwich, a major parliamentarian stronghold early in the First Civil War which lay some to the south west. A contemporary diarist,

Edward Burghall Edward Burghall (died 8 December 1665) was an English ejected minister, a Puritan who supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. He is known for a diary called "Providence improved", which describes the state of Cheshire throughou ...

, vicar of nearby

Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...

, described the subsequent action: "The royalists laid siege to Crewe Hall, where they within the house slew sixty, and wounded many, on St. John's Day; but wanting victuals and ammunition, they were forced to yield it up the next day, and themselves, a hundred and thirty-six, became prisoners, stout and valiant soldiers, having quarter for life granted them." On 4 February 1644, shortly after the decisive parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Nantwich, the hall was retaken by Sir Thomas Fairfax's forces. Sir Randolph Crewe died a couple of years later, before the end of the First Civil War. His male line died out in 1684, and the hall passed to the Offley family by the marriage of Sir Randolph's great-granddaughter, Anne Crewe, to John Offley of Madeley Old Manor, Staffordshire. Their eldest son, also John (1681–1749), took the name Crewe in 1708.Burke J. ''A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire'' (Vol. 1), p. 310 (1832) Hall, S. C. ''The Baronial Halls, Picturesque Edifices, and Ancient Churches of England'' (Vol. III) (Chapman & Hall; 1845) The Offley–Crewe family was very wealthy at this time: John Offley Crewe's income at his death was estimated at £15,000 per year (£ today). Both John Offley Crewe and his son John Crewe (1709–1752) served as members of parliament for

.Cruickshanks ''et al.'', pp. 3–4

Barons Crewe and Marquess of Crewe

Anne Crewe's great-grandson, John Crewe (1742–1829), was created the first

Baron Crewe Baron Crewe, of Crewe in the County of Chester, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 25 February 1806 for the politician and landowner John Crewe, of Crewe Hall, Cheshire. This branch of the Crewe (or Crew) famil ...

in 1806. A prominent Whig politician, he was a lifelong friend and supporter of Charles James Fox; his wife

Frances Crewe Frances Anne Crewe, Lady Crewe (''née'' Greville; November 1748 – 23 December 1818), was the daughter of Fulke Greville, envoy extraordinary to the elector of Bavaria, and his Irish wife, Frances Macartney, who was a poet, best known for "A Pr ...

(née Greville; 1748–1818) was a famous beauty and political hostess who gave lavish entertainments at the hall. The Crewes' social circle included many of the major figures of the day, and visitors to the hall during this period included politicians Fox and

George Canning George Canning (11 April 17708 August 1827) was a British Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as Foreign Secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of the Unit ...

, philosopher

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...

, playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, poet William Spencer, musicologist

Charles Burney Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...

, and artists Sir Joshua Reynolds and

Sir Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...

. John Crewe had the park landscaped and the hall extended, and also had the interior remodelled in the neo-Classical style then fashionable. Some forty years later, his grandson Hungerford Crewe (1812–94) went to considerable expense to have the interiors redecorated in a more sympathetic

Jacobethan The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...

style. The house was insured in 1857 for £10,000 (£ today); the contents at that time included books and wines (insured for £2,250), mathematical and musical instruments (£250), and pictures (£1,000). The art collection included several family portraits and other works by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which were saved from the fire that gutted the building early in January 1866. Extensive restoration work for Hungerford Crewe was completed in 1870. Robert Crewe-Milnes portrait

Hungerford Crewe never married and on his death in 1894, the barony became extinct. The hall was inherited by his nephew, Robert Milnes, Baron Houghton (1858–1945), the son of Annabella Hungerford Crewe; he adopted the name Crewe, to become Crewe-Milnes. The Crewe title was revived as an earldom for him in 1895, and he later became the Marquess of Crewe. A Liberal politician and poet, Crewe-Milnes held several key Cabinet positions between 1905 and 1916, and was a trusted aide to Asquith. He was also a friend of George V, and the King and Queen Mary stayed at the hall for three days in 1913, while touring the Staffordshire Potteries. The Crewe-Milnes family left Crewe Hall in 1922, and the house stood empty until the Second World War. Crewe-Milnes offered the hall to Cheshire County Council as a gift in 1931, ostensibly because his heirs did not wish to live in the house. After the council's refusal, the majority of the estate was sold to the Duchy of Lancaster in 1936. His grandson, writer Quentin Crewe, described Crewe-Milnes as "both extravagant and poorly advised".

Calmic, Wellcome and hotel

Early in the Second World War, Crewe Hall was used as a military training camp, repatriation camp for

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.prisoner-of-war camp for German officers from 1943.Giese, O., 1994, Shooting the War, Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, Ollerhead, p. 60 The hall was leased as offices in 1946, becoming the headquarters of Calmic Limited (the company's name is an abbreviation of Cheshire and Lancashire Medical Industries Corporation), which moved from Lancashire to Crewe Hall in 1947. They eventually employed nearly 800 people at Crewe Hall.Tigwell, p. 55 Calmic produced hygiene and medical products on the site including tablets, creams,

analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It ...

s and antibiotic aerosols; the company's brands included Calpol (launched in 1959 with the brand name likely a combination of 'Calmic' and '

paracetamol Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, is a medication used to treat fever and mild to moderate pain. Common brand names include Tylenol and Panadol. At a standard dose, paracetamol only slightly decreases body temperature; it is inferior ...

'). Calmic constructed industrial facilities adjacent to the hall including a drying and filtration plant and pharmaceutical packaging unit. After Wellcome's acquisition of Calmic in 1965, the hall served as the UK and Ireland headquarters of the Wellcome Foundation until the merger with Glaxo in 1995. Wellcome produced liquids, tablets, creams and antibiotic aerosols at the site; the hall itself was used for administration, but the stables block was rebuilt internally for use as laboratories and the industrial facilities were expanded. In 1994, the Duchy of Lancaster sold the Crewe Hall buildings and the adjacent industrial site, which became Crewe Hall Enterprise Park. The Crewe Hall buildings remained empty after Wellcome moved out and were sold to a hotel developer in 1998; the hall became a 26-bedroom hotel the following year. Several additional buildings in a modern style were constructed in the 21st century to extend the accommodation.

Architectural history

The Jacobean hall was built for Sir Randolph Crewe between 1615 and 1636. The architect of the original building is unknown, although some historians have concluded that its design was based on drawings by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

.Urban, p. 313 Although of a relatively conservative design, similar to that of Longleat from half a century earlier, the hall seems to have been considered progressive in provincial Cheshire. The historian Thomas Fuller wrote in 1662: Crewe Hall engraving

Hearth-tax assessments of 1674 show the original hall to have been one of the largest houses in Cheshire, its 42 hearths being surpassed only by Cholmondeley House and Rocksavage, neither of which have survived. As depicted in a painting of around 1710, the original building was square with sides of around , and featured gabled projecting bays and groups of octagonal chimney stacks. Built around a central open courtyard, the interior had a great hall and long gallery; the main entrance led to a screens passage and the main staircase was in a small east hall.Hodson, p. 77 Externally, there was a walled forecourt and formal walled gardens; a range of separate service buildings was located to the west.Moss, pp. 346–348

Georgian and Jacobethan alterations

The house remained unaltered for much of the 18th century, in contrast to most of the other principal seats in the county.Hodson, pp. 80–81 It was described in 1769 as "a square of very old date ... more to be admired now for its antiquity than elegance or conveniency." Work was carried out during the 1780s and '90s for John Crewe (later the first Baron Crewe). A service wing to the west in a Jacobean revival style was added to the hall in 1780. The principal interiors of the old building were redecorated in neo-Classical style at this time, although the original layout with great hall, long gallery and drawing room was retained. Improvements were made to the wine cellars and bedrooms in 1783, and J. Cheney was employed to build a new attic staircase and seven bedrooms in 1796.

wrote in 1788, "I am vastly pleased with this place. We build no such houses in our time." The second Lord Palmerston, visiting in the same year, wrote: The house was altered again in 1837–42 by

for Hungerford Crewe. Blore replaced a local architect, George Latham, who had been commissioned in 1836. Many of Blore's working drawings survive in the Royal Institute of British Architects archive. He carried out decorative work to the interior in the

style and made major changes to the plan of the ground floor, which included replacing the screens passage with an entrance hall and covering the central courtyard to create a single-storey central hall. He also fitted plate glass windows throughout and installed a warm-air heating system.Scard, p. 23 The total cost, including his work on estate buildings, was £30,000 (£ today).

E. M. Barry restoration

Most of Blore's work to the main hall was destroyed in the fire of 1866. Hungerford Crewe is said to have asked Blore, then retired, to restore the building, but he declined. The restoration work was instead carried out by E. M. Barry, son of

Sir Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...

, the architect of the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

, and the contractors Cubitt & Co.;Gladden, p.29 it was completed in 1870, at a cost of £150,000 (£ today). In a lecture to the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, Barry later outlined his strategy for the restoration: Crewe Hall (west)

Nikolaus Pevsner describes Barry's reconstruction as "an extremely sumptuous job."Pevsner & Hubbard, p. 40 Peter de Figueiredo and Julian Treuherz consider it his finest work, attributing his success to being "directed by the powerful character of the existing building." Barry's work is considered to be, in general, more elaborate and more regular than the original. For the restoration of the interior, he employed several of the leading artists and craftsmen of the time, who had previously worked on the Palace of Westminster. Barry's principal innovation was the addition of a tower to the west wing, which was required for water storage. Intended to unite the east and west wings of the hall, the effect is limited by the tower's Victorian design. He also reorganised the plan of the building, opening up Blore's central hall to create a two-storey atrium, as well as providing more ground-floor service rooms and generating twenty extra servants' bedrooms in an attic by modifying the roof. Local architect Thomas Bower performed some alterations to the house for Robert Crewe-Milnes in 1896, including extending the service wing. Few changes to the hall itself occurred during Calmic's tenancy. The company installed central heating in around 1948, and later constructed an office extension on the north side of the house, which was demolished a few years after the building's conversion into an hotel. Calmic had undertaken only cosmetic maintenance work, and by the 1970s the fabric of the building was in poor repair. A major stonework fall from the north gable during high winds in 1974 led Wellcome to carry out an extensive restoration programme to both the interior and the exterior, which was completed in 1979 at a cost of £500,000 (£ today).

Main hall

Crewe Hall is a grade-I-listed mansion located at in the civil parish of Crewe Green, ½ mile (1 km) from the edge of

. The architecture historian Nikolaus Pevsner considered the main hall to be one of the two finest Jacobean houses in

, the other being Dorfold Hall at

. Constructed in red brick with stone dressings and a lead and slate roof, the hall has two storeys with attics and basements. The eastern half of the present building largely represents the original Jacobean hall. The exterior survived the fire of 1866 and the majority of the diapered brickwork is original, although some of the stonework of the porch and the tops of the gables was renewed by E. M. Barry.Robinson, pp. 25–26 The south (front) face of the eastern wing has seven

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

, with a balustraded parapet at

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

level. The central bay is set forward to form a stone centrepiece around the arched main entrance, which is flanked by

fluted Fluting may refer to: * Fluting (architecture) * Fluting (firearms) *Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump See also *Flute (disambiguation) A flute is a musical instrument. ...

Ionic columns. Immediately above the entrance are doubled tapering pilasters flanking a three-light window, all surmounted by a large cartouche decorated with strapwork. On the first floor of the central bay is a triple- mullion window, and above the parapet is a coat of arms. Flanking the centrepiece are two bays with diapered brickwork and single-mullion windows. The two ends of the south face are also set forward; they have

canted Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to: Language * Cant (language), a secret language * Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers * Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers * Shelta or the Cant, a lan ...

, triple-mullion bay windows and are surmounted above the parapet by shaped gables with attic windows. All the main windows of this face are double transomed. Crewe Hall (east bdg detail)

The east face of the eastern wing has four bays with canted bay windows, shaped end gables and a central cartouche. In the centre of the northern (garden) face is a large bow window, originally Jacobean, which illuminates the chapel; it has stone panels decorated with cartouches below arched

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

lights.Pevsner & Hubbard, p. 23 This face otherwise reverses the main façade, with the addition of

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...

windows. The western half of the building is stepped forward (southwards) by two bays from the original building. Originally the service wing, it is plainer than the eastern building and dates from the Georgian era. Though using Georgian proportions, it was built in an early Jacobean revival style which has been heightened by subsequent alterations, particularly the addition of a central gable. The main part of the south (front) face has seven bays, with a balustraded parapet running along the entire façade at eaves level. In the centre of the five east bays is a canted bay window beneath a shaped gable; the flanking bays have single-mullion, double-transomed windows. The two west bays are set backwards and have a central oriel window on the first floor with two single-mullion, double-transomed windows on the ground floor. The western wing is dominated by a square tower of stone-dressed brick which rises two storeys above the roof and is capped by an ogee spirelet surrounded by four corner chimneys. Designed by Barry in the High Victorian style, it was added after the fire. A slender bell tower also rises from the west wing. At the rear is a loggia with a vaulted ceiling supported by Tuscan columns. The western end of this wing is a single-storey extension by Thomas Bower dating from 1896.

Interior

The interior of Crewe Hall contains a mixture of original Jacobean work, faithful reproductions of the original Jacobean designs (which in some cases had been recorded), and work in the High Victorian style designed by Barry. The entrance hall in the east wing was remodelled by both

and Barry. It is panelled in oak and contains a marble chimneypiece with Tuscan columns featuring the Crewe arms. It opens via a columned screen into the central hall, which was an open courtyard in the Jacobean house. Roofed by Blore at the first-floor level, Barry converted the space into an atrium featuring cloisters around the walls, with a wooden gallery over them at the mezzanine level and a tunnel-vaulted first-floor gallery above. The floor is paved with a pattern of coloured marbles and the first-floor gallery corridors have stained glass panels. The atrium has a

hammerbeam roof A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams pr ...

supported by columns at the gallery level. To the east of the central hall is an accurate reconstruction by Barry of the original staircase, which Nikolaus Pevsner described as "one of the most ingeniously planned and ornately executed in the whole of Jacobean England." Heavily carved, the newels feature heraldic animals, which were originally

gilded Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...

and painted. Crewe Hall Staircase 1877

To the east of the entrance lies the dining room, which was formerly the Jacobean

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...

. The room least damaged by the fire, it was restored by Barry to its 17th-century appearance, with facsimiles of the original ceiling and carved wooden screen. It contains an overmantel featuring a relief of Plenty, considered to be original, and a large stone chimneypiece, which is believed to be the only surviving work by Blore on the interior. The oak parlour, in the south west, contains a large wooden Jacobean overmantel, featuring

Green Men The Green Man is a legendary being primarily interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, representing the cycle of new growth that occurs every spring. The Green Man is most commonly depicted in a sculpture, or other representation of a face which is ...

carving. The Jacobean carving here and in the dining room is noticeably cruder than the Victorian work. The carved parlour is another reproduction by Barry of the original. Panelled in oak, it has a plaster frieze of the

Elements Element or elements may refer to: Science * Chemical element, a pure substance of one type of atom * Heating element, a device that generates heat by electrical resistance * Orbital elements, parameters required to identify a specific orbit of ...

, Graces and Virtues. The alabaster chimneypiece depicts the winged figure of Time rewarding Industry and punishing Sloth, symbolised by two boys, which is surmounted by a carved portrait of Sir Randolph Crewe. A small chapel lies to the north of the central hall. Originally rather austere, it was lavishly decorated by Barry in the High Victorian style. There is much elaborate wood carving, with the

altar rail The altar rail (also known as a communion rail or chancel rail) is a low barrier, sometimes ornate and usually made of stone, wood or metal in some combination, delimiting the chancel or the sanctuary and altar in a church, from the nave and oth ...

featuring angels and the benches poppyheads. The marble apse has alabaster carved heads of the prophets and evangelists by J. Birnie Philip, and the wall panelling features bronze medallions depicting biblical characters by the same artist. The ornate choir gallery, reached from the central hall's mezzanine gallery, contains the family pew. The stained glass and wall murals are by Clayton and Bell, and the painting and

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

ling are by J. G. Crace. Crewe Hall Dining Room 1877

The suite of

state room A state room in a large European mansion is usually one of a suite of very grand rooms which were designed for use when entertaining royalty. The term was most widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were the most lavishly decorated in ...

s on the first floor of the east wing contains the long gallery, library, drawing room ( great chamber), small drawing room and two bedrooms. All date originally from the Jacobean mansion, but are likely to have been significantly altered by John Crewe and then extensively reworked by Blore in neo-Jacobean style. They were restored to Barry's designs, usually with little attempt to reproduce the Jacobean appearance, probably because records of most of the original designs were lacking. Crace performed much of the decoration work in these rooms. All the state rooms contain elaborate plasterwork and stone chimneypieces, often flanked with Corinthian columns or pilasters. Crewe Hall 6

The long gallery, along the north side, has a chimneypiece in coloured marbles with busts by Henry Weekes depicting Sir Randolph Crewe and Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew, Bishop of Durham. The library, above the carved parlour, contains statuettes of book lovers by Philip and a frieze of scenes from literature by

J. Mabey ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

. The drawing room has a facsimile of the Jacobean ceiling, which had been recorded by architect William Burn. Identical in pattern to one at the Reindeer Inn in Banbury, of which the Victoria and Albert Museum has a plaster cast, it was presumably originally the work of the same craftsman. One of the state bedrooms has another survivor of the fire, a Jacobean stone fireplace with a plaster overmantel relief depicting

Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain ''Qayīn'', in pausa ''Qāyīn''; gr, Κάϊν ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl / Qāyīn and Abel ''Heḇel'', in pausa ''Hāḇel''; gr, Ἅβελ ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hāb� ...

Stables, outbuildings and gate lodges

The former stables, in red brick with a tiled roof, were completed around 1636 and are contemporary with the Jacobean mansion; they are listed at grade II*. They form a quadrangle immediately to the west of the hall, enclosing a rectangular courtyard. The main east face of the quadrangle stands at right angles to the front of the house; it has nine bays of two storeys and an attic. Its centrepiece, added by

in around 1837, consists of an arched stone entrance flanked by pilasters, above which a clock tower rises from the first-floor level.Pevsner & Hubbard, pp. 194–195 The tower features twinned arrow-slit windows and clock faces with stone surrounds, and is topped by a bell chamber and ogee cupola with

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s. In addition to the centrepiece, the east face has four bays which are set forward and have shaped gables topped with finials. The north and south ends of this east building also have shaped gables. Crewe Hall carriage arch

The north and south sides of the quadrangle have large arched carriage openings beneath shaped gables; the

keystones A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, all ...

are carved with horse's heads. The walls within the carriageway opening are decorated with bands of blue brick. The east, north and south faces are all finished with an openwork brick parapet with a stone coping. The west building has twelve arched openings accessed from the courtyard. The main storeys of the quadrangle mainly have three-light, stone-dressed mullion windows, with two-light windows at the attic level. All the roofs have tall octagonal chimneys and feature decorative ridge tiles. The interior of the stables block was rebuilt during the building's conversion to its present use of laboratories and offices. The Apple House, a small red-brick building to the west of the stables quadrangle, also dates from around 1636, and can be seen in a painting of Crewe Hall from around 1710. Originally a dovecote, it is used as a storehouse. Built on an octagonal plan with two storeys, it has two oval windows with stone surrounds. The lower entrance has a stone semicircular arch; a second doorway is located at first-floor height. The pyramidal tiled roof is topped by a glazed lantern with a lead cap. The building is listed at grade II. Crewe Hall Gatelodge (Weston Rd)

The park has two gate lodges; both are listed at grade II. The northern lodge at

Slaughter Hill Slaughter may refer to: Animals * Animal slaughter, the killing of animals for various purposes ** Ritual slaughter, the practice of slaughtering livestock in a ritual manner *** '' Dhabihah'', the prescribed method of ritual slaughter of anim ...

is by Blore and dates from 1847. In red brick with darker-brick diapering, stone dressings and a slate roof, it has a T-shaped plan with a single storey, and is Jacobean in style. It features two shaped gables, each decorated with a panel carved with Crewe Estate emblems, and a hexagonal central bay with a pyramidal roof which forms a porch. The

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

-style Weston or Golden Gates Lodge to the south of the house dates from before 1865 and is attributed to William Eden Nesfield, although it is not typical of his style. In red brick with blue-brick zig–zag diapering,

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

dressings and a slate roof, the lodge has two storeys, with a projecting

bay to the road face. The driveway face has an ashlar panel with a shield bearing the Crewe family coat of arms.

Gardens and park

The National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens lists of the gardens and surrounding parkland at grade II. An early engraving shows a walled forecourt to the south of the original hall, with a large stone gateway carved with Sir Randolph Crewe's arms and motto. The forecourt had terraces, balustrades and a path decorated with diamond patterns. As depicted in a painting of around 1710, the grounds were laid out in extensive formal walled pleasure gardens with parterres. During the 18th century, the park was landscaped in a more naturalistic style for John Crewe (later the first Baron Crewe) by Lancelot Brown (before 1768), William Emes (1768–71), and Humphry Repton and John Webb (1791).Gladden, p. 28 Repton's design included an ornamental lake of immediately north of the house, created by damming Engelsea Brook, which still runs through the park. He also created new approaches to the house. The lake drained away in 1941 when a dam burst, and the area is now planted with

poplars ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (), aspen, and cottonwood. The we ...

. A stone statue of

Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...

with a reclining female, originally located on the banks of the lake, now stands in woodland; it dates from the early 19th century. A

boathouse A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

, originally at the head of the lake, was in need of restoration in 2007. A Temple of Peace formerly stood on the north shore of the lake, but was demolished some time after 1892. Much of the parkland is now covered with mixed woodland, including Rookery Wood and Temple of Peace Wood. Nesfield parterre (Crewe Hall)

Formal gardens were laid out around the house by

in around 1840–50 for Hungerford Crewe. Nesfield's design included statuary, gravelled walks and elaborate parterres realised using low box hedges and coloured minerals. Balustraded terraces were also constructed on the north and south sides of the hall, probably designed by E. M. Barry, and incorporating statues of lions,

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

s and other heraldic beasts, echoing the interior staircase. Military usage during the Second World War, however, destroyed parts of the gardens; army buildings were erected near the house, and the area in front of the hall served as a parade ground and later was ploughed up to grow potatoes. The grounds were further neglected while the house was used as offices, and little has survived except the terraces, gates and statues. In 2009, English Heritage placed the hall on the ''Heritage at Risk Register'' as highly vulnerable, considering that the historic character of the gardens and park is compromised by recent developments to the hotel complex, in particular the conference centre, spa and associated parking area. Crewe Hall gates

The entrance gates and wall separating the gardens from the park and farmland date from 1878 and are listed at grade II. The wrought-iron gates are by Cubitt & Co., and were exhibited at the

Paris Exhibition of 1878 The third Paris World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French, was held from 1 May to 10 November 1878. It celebrated the recovery of France after the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War. Construction The buildings and the fairgroun ...

. Two outer single gates and a double inner gate are supported by four sandstone piers. The outer pair of gate piers are capped by a bud-shaped device supported on scrolls; the inner pair are surmounted by a griffin and a lion, mirroring the statuary of the hall's terraces. The lower gate sections of

lyre The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...

-like panels with leaf and spearhead motifs are topped with Jacobean-style arched panels. The ornate gate overthrows include shields and emblems capped with crowns, sheaves and sickles. The inner gates bear the inscription ''Quid retribuam domino'' ("What can I render to the Lord?"), while the outer gates bear the date. The wall, of brick with stone dressings, features arcading and has piers surmounted with ogee caps carved to match the tiles of the main hall tower. A further feature of the gardens to survive is a grade-II-listed

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

dating from the early 19th century, which stands to the rear of the house.

Crewe estate

History

The original estate purchased by Sir Randolph Crewe in 1608 included the manors of

, Barthomley and Haslington and cost over £6,000. Lands from the Offley estate in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

and the Done estate in

were acquired by marriage and inheritance in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and in common with the other great Cheshire estates, the estate flourished during the 18th century. The estate of 1804 included land or property in Barthomley,

Burwardsley Burwardsley is a village and civil parish the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The parish also includes the small villages of Burwardsley, Burwardsley Hill, Higher Burwardsley. The p ...

, Crewe, Crowton, Elton, Hale, Northrode, Rushton, Sandbach,

Spurstow Spurstow is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, which is located 6½ miles to the north west of Nantwich. The parish also includes the settlement of Spurstow Sketh ...

, Tattenhall,

Warmingham Warmingham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Wheelock (at ), north of Crewe, south of Middlewich and miles west of Sandbach. The parish also include ...

and Weston in Cheshire, as well as Madeley in Staffordshire and Muxton in Shropshire.Scard, p. 19 The predominant land use was dairy farming, but the estate also included some arable land; tenancies ranged from crofts of 1 or 2 acres (less than a hectare) to large farms of over . The gardens, park and home farm occupied . Hungerford Crewe was the fifth greatest landowner in the county in 1871, with a total of . The majority of the Crewe estate was sold by Robert Crewe-Milnes to the Duchy of Lancaster in 1936.

Estate buildings

Crewe Hall Farmhouse, the estate's home farm, stands on the edge of the grounds, ¼ mile to the south east of the hall; it dates from around 1702 and is listed at

grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. In brown brick with a slate roof, it has two storeys and five bays to the front. Two of the adjacent farm buildings, dating from 1883 to 1884, are also listed. As of 2009, the Duchy of Lancaster is developing outbuildings at Crewe Hall Farm, including the two listed buildings, into leasehold offices totalling . Several estate cottages near Weston Lodge were designed by

W. E. Nesfield William Eden Nesfield (2 April 1835 – 25 March 1888) was an English architect. Like his some-time partner, Richard Norman Shaw, he designed several houses in Britain in the revived 'Old English' and 'Queen Anne' styles during the 1860s and 1 ...

between 1860 and 1866, and are among his earliest works. They include Stowford and Magnolia Cottages (1864–65), which Nikolaus Pevsner describes as "cheerful and just a little

Kate Greenaway Catherine Greenaway (17 March 18466 November 1901) was an English Victorian artist and writer, known for her children's book illustrations. She received her education in graphic design and art between 1858 and 1871 from the Finsbury School of ...

", Smithy Cottage (around 1865) and Fir Tree Cottage (1865), all listed at grade II, as well as a half-timbered farmhouse on Weston Road. Rather than either the Jacobean mansion or its High Victorian interiors, their style derives from buildings of the Home Counties, with tile hanging, incised pargetting, half-hipped gables and high chimneys. Pevsner credits Nesfield with introducing these features to Cheshire.

Modern hotel and Crewe estate

As of 2019, Crewe Hall is a hotel in the QHotels group, set in of parkland, with a restaurant, brasserie, conference facilities, tennis courts and health club, including a gym, spa and swimming pool. There are 117 bedrooms, of which 25 are located in the old building. The hall is licensed for civil wedding ceremonies. The hall and park are not otherwise open to the public. The Duchy of Lancaster retains ownership of a large area of the estate, which is mainly managed as dairy farms and woodland, with some commercial development near

and at Crewe Hall Farm.

Notes and references

Sources

* Allen, Michael, ed. (2006). ''An English Lady in Paris: The Diary of Frances Anne Crewe 1786'' (St Leonards: Oxford-Stockley) () and ( pbk edition, 2011) * Bisgrove, Richard (2008). ''William Robinson: The Wild Gardener'' (London: Frances Lincoln) () * Chambers, Susan (2007). ''Crewe – A History'' (Chichester: Phillimore) () * Crosby, Alan (1996). ''A History of Cheshire'' (Chichester: Phillimore) () * Cruickshanks, Eveline; Handley, Stuart & Hayton, D.W. (2002). ''The House of Commons, 1690–1715'' (Volume V) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) () * Curran, Howard; Gilsenan, Michael; Owen, Bernard & Owen, Joy (1984). ''Change at Crewe'' (Chester: Cheshire Libraries) () * de Figueiredo, Peter & Treuherz, Julian (1988). ''Cheshire Country Houses'' (Chichester: Phillimore) () * Dore, R.N. (1966) ''The Civil Wars in Cheshire'' (''A History of Cheshire'', Vol. 8; series editor: J.J. Bagley) (Chester: Cheshire Community Council) * Fuller, Thomas (1840)
''The History of the Worthies of England'' (Vol. 1)
(London: Thomas Tegg), retrieved on 11 March 2008 * Gladden, Ray (2005). ''Calmic at Crewe Hall'' (Crewe: Medica Packaging) * Hinchliffe, Edward (1856)
''Barthomley: In Letters from a Former Rector to his Eldest Son''
(London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans), retrieved on 25 January 2009 * Hodson, J. Howard (1978). ''Cheshire, 1660–1780: Restoration to Industrial Revolution'' (''A History of Cheshire'', Vol. 9; series editor: J.J. Bagley) (Chester: Cheshire Community Council) () * Moss, Fletcher (1910). ''The Fifth Book of Pilgrimages to Old Homes'' (Didsbury: F. Moss) * Pevsner, Nikolaus & Hubbard, Edward (1971). ''The Buildings of England: Cheshire'' (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books) () * Ollerhead, Peter (2008). ''Crewe: History and Guide'' (Stroud: The History Press) () * Robinson, John Martin (1991). ''A Guide to the Country Houses of the North-West'' (London: Constable) () * Scard, Geoffrey (1981). ''Squire and Tenant: Life in Rural Cheshire, 1760–1900'' (''A History of Cheshire'', Vol. 10; series editor: J.J. Bagley) (Chester: Cheshire Community Council) () * Tigwell, Rosalind E. (1985). ''Cheshire in the Twentieth Century'' (''A History of Cheshire'', Vol. 12; series editor: J.J. Bagley) (Chester: Cheshire Community Council) () * Urban, Sylvanus (1866)
Crewe Hall, with an illustration.
'' The Gentleman's Magazine'', NS I: 308–317, retrieved on 18 January 2009

External links

Qhotels: Crewe Hall
{{good article Grade I listed houses Hotels in Cheshire Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire Grade II listed buildings in Cheshire Country houses in Cheshire Parks and open spaces in Cheshire World War II prisoner of war camps in England Houses completed in 1636 Houses completed in 1870 Edward Blore buildings Buildings and structures in Crewe 1636 establishments in England Country house hotels Edward Middleton Barry buildings Gardens by Humphry Repton Gardens by Capability Brown