9 Mill Street, Nantwich
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9 Mill Street is a
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
house in
Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...
,
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. The present building (at ) dates from around 1736 and is a 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 ...
.
Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
calls it a "fine, spacious" house, and the
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...
listing describes it as a "substantial and well-detailed early, C18 Town House, which ... retains much original interior fabric." Formerly a town house, bank and political club, it is currently a restaurant and bar. It stands on the site of an earlier house, which has been identified as the residence of the Wright family, one of the five principal houses of Nantwich in the 17th century.


History

The present building stands on the site of an earlier house, which was identified by historian James Hall as the "very fine brick house of Mr. Wrights", one of the five principal houses of the town described by William Webb in 1622–23. The use of brick other than for chimneys was very unusual in Nantwich at this date. Other brick buildings include Townsend House, the demolished Wilbraham mansion on Welsh Row completed in around 1580, and the Wright's Almshouses of 1638. Local historian Jeremy Lake considers that the use of brick was an expression of wealth of the owner. The Wrights were one of the major Nantwich families between the mid-16th century and the early 18th century; Sir Edmund Wright (b. 1573) rose to become
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
in 1640–41. Other residents of this earlier house include, in 1691, Samuel Acton, a wealthy tobacconist who became important in the town's salt trade and was also the town's first-recorded
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
minister. The present house was built in around 1736 as a town house. According to Hall, it was renovated or rebuilt in the late 18th century. In the early 19th century, it was occupied by a wine merchant. It became the Nantwich branch of the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank in 1852, and underwent alteration at this date; it also served as the bank manager's residence. In 1866, the District Bank moved to a new building on Churchyard Side by
Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known f ...
, and 9 Mill Street returned to private ownership after a period of standing empty. In 1883, it was known as "The Elms" and was occupied by a shoe manufacturer. Hall describes "lofty and spacious wainscotted rooms" and a "fine staircase" at this date.Hall, p. 125 Nantwich Liberal Club (founded in 1875) acquired the building in 1897, and the building was extended at this date; it served as a political club for much of the 20th century. Since the closure of the club in the 1990s, the building has been occupied by the Riverside Club, Peppers restaurant, the Residence restaurant and most recently The Townhouse Restaurant & Bar.Davies, p. 26Stevenson, p. 29Residence Restaurant & Bar: About Us
(accessed 12 June 2010)


Description

In red brick with stone dressings, the house has two storeys with attics and basements, under a tiled roof. The five-bay front (north) face has a central entrance bay, set slightly forwards, which is flanked by brick
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 and capped with a
pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...
.Pevsner & Hubbard, p. 288 At the level of the pediment is a
cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
topped with a
parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
, which is decorated with a pair of
urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...
s. The roof has a south-facing platform accessed via the attics. The main windows to both storeys feature arched heads. The entrance door is flanked by small paired windows and has an arched top, supported by two
scrolls A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...
. The entrance and flanking windows were formerly surrounded by a stone porch supported by four columns; this was removed some time after 1966. Although the interior plan has been substantially altered from the original town house, many Georgian features have survived on both ground and first floors, including cornices, panelling,
architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...
s around the doors, and the main staircase as well as the attic stairs.


Modern use

The building is currently occupied by The Townhouse, a bar/restaurant and licensed wedding venue, which opened in August 2020. The ground floor features a large restaurant, bar area and 'Garden Room', serving a British and Mediterranean mix of cuisine, along with Classic and on trend cocktails.


See also

*
Listed buildings in Nantwich Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It contains 132 listed buildings and structures, with three classified as grade I, seven as grade II* and 122 as grade II. In the United Kingdom, t ...


References

Sources *Davies G. ''Memory Lane Nantwich'' (Breedon Books; 2002) (ISBN) *Hall J. ''A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester'' (2nd edn) (E. J. Morten; 1972) () *Lake J. ''The Great Fire of Nantwich'' (Shiva Publishing; 1983) () *Pevsner N, Hubbard E. ''The Buildings of England: Cheshire'' (Penguin Books; 1971) () *Stevenson PJ. ''Nantwich: A Brief History and Guide'' (1994) {{DEFAULTSORT:9 Mill Street, Nantwich Houses completed in 1736 Georgian architecture in Cheshire Nantwich, 9 Mill Street Nantwich, 9 Mill Street Houses in Nantwich