Peover Hall is a country house in the civil parish of

Peover Superior Peover Superior is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is described by the Office for National Statistics as a village surrounded by inhabited countryside. The civil parish ...

, commonly known as Over Peover,

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. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building 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 ...

History

The house was refaced in 1585 and was built for Sir Ralph Mainwaring. There have been alterations and additions to the house in around 1653–56, around 1764, around 1944 and in 1966. It was originally planned as an H- shaped house but this plan was abandoned around 1590. In 1654 a stable block was built. The alterations in the 1760s included a wing at a right-angle to the house (added c.1764), making it a T-shape, and a new stable block and coach house. In 1919 the Mainwaring family sold the house to John Graham Peel and it was sold again to Harry Brooks in 1940. During the Second World War the house was requisitioned and used by

General George Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

and his staff. The hall was also used as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp, and as a resettlement home for allied prisoners of war and for English people

repatriate Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...

d after the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. It was returned to the Brooks family in 1950. The 1760s wing was in poor condition and was demolished in 1964, taking the house from 21 to 11 bedrooms, other modifications were made too, including a new entrance.

Architecture and contents

The house is built in red brick with stone dressings and a tiled roof. The early parts of the house are partly two-storeyed with

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s and partly three-storeyed with flat roofs. The windows are

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed and transomed. The house is roughly rectangular in shape with an entrance corridor which runs across its depth. On the left of the corridor is a small sitting room which contains woodwork and furniture from the 16th century. At the centre of the ground floor is the dining room which includes wooden

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s which were formerly in Horsley Hall,

Clwyd Clwyd () is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to th ...

, and paintings and furniture from the 18th century. Also on the ground floor is the morning room in which is a set of bookcases from Oteley, a former seat of the Mainwaring family in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. On the first floor are the drawing room and 5 bedrooms. The drawing room is in the centre of the building and contains early 18th-century panelling, 17th and 18th-century furniture, and another set of bookcases from Oteley. On the top floor are 6 further bedrooms and the long gallery which contains antique furniture and toys. The kitchen in the basement has two large fireplaces and it also contains

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

and

armour Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...

Surrounding buildings and gardens

The stable block is dated 1654 and is listed at Grade I. It contains Tuscan style columns at the end of each stall and a decorated panelled ceiling. It is built in red brick on a stone

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In c ...

, with stone dressings and a slate roof. It is in two storey and has nine bays. On its roof is a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

with a clock face. The coach house is listed at Grade II. Also listed at Grade II are

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 ...

gatepiers and

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

gates which came from Alderley Park, and a

mounting block A mounting block, horse block, carriage stone, or in Scots a loupin'-on stane is an assistance for mounting and dismounting a horse or cart. Usage and locations Mounting blocks were especially useful for women riding sidesaddle or pillion, that ...

dating from the mid 18th century. The hall has a formal garden and stands in a landscape park. The landscape park was probably landscaped by

William Emes William Emes (1729 or 1730–13 March 1803) was an English landscape gardener. Biography Details of his early life are not known but in 1756 he was appointed head gardener to Sir Nathaniel Curzon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. He left this post ...

after the alterations to the house in 1764. The formal gardens were laid out between 1890 and 1905 for Sir Philip Tatton Mainwaring. They were remodelled by

Hubert Worthington Sir John Hubert Worthington (4 July 1886 – 26 July 1963) was an English architect. Early life Worthington was born at Alderley Edge, near Stockport, the youngest son of architect Thomas Worthington. He was educated at Sedbergh School from ...

during the 1920s, and were further developed from the 1960s by the Brooks. The gardens are listed at Grade II on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. The gardens are open to the public at advertised times and tours of the house are available.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Peover Hall - HHA page
Buildings and structures completed in 1585 Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire Grade II* listed houses Country houses in Cheshire Historic house museums in Cheshire Gardens in Cheshire

History

Architecture and contents

Surrounding buildings and gardens

See also

References

External links