Belmont Hall is a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

to the northwest of the village of Great Budworth,

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 as a designated Grade I

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 ...

. The house stands to the north of the A559 road. Since 1977 it has been occupied by Cransley School.

History

The area presently occupied by the Belmont Hall estate was granted to Norton Priory by Geoffrey Dutton in the 12th century and became a monastic grange, of which only the fishpond and moat have survived. In 1749 the land was bought by John Smith Barry, who commissioned James Gibbs to design a house for him, which was completed in 1755. Gibbs died in 1754, therefore the house's construction was probably supervised by a local architect. Some of the architectural features of the house are inconsistent with Gibbs' work elsewhere, and it is considered by de Figueiredo and Treuherz, and by Hartwell ''et al.'' that changes to the design, including the two-storey bow windows, were made by the executant architect. When John Smith Barry died in 1784 the house was inherited by his son James Hugh Smith Barry, an art collector. At his death in 1801 the house was sold to Henry Clarke, who sold it to the Leigh family. The estate remains in the ownership of the Leigh family; the house is let to Cransley School, and part of the surrounding land is used as a registered

Camping and Caravanning Club The Camping and Caravanning Club is a United Kingdom not-for-profit organisation involved with all aspects of camping based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1901, the club now represents over half a million members. History The Camping and Ca ...

site.

Architecture

Exterior

Belmont Hall is constructed in brick with stone dressings on a stone plinth, and it has a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

. It is designed along

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

lines, with a central block of living rooms, separate side pavilions for offices, stables to the west and kitchens on the east. The central block has a symmetrical front, it is in three storeys, and 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 ...

. The central doorway is flanked by rusticated stonework. It has a

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window, often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, and is sometimes hinged to a transom. Th ...

with a round arch, above which is 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 ...

. The lateral two wings have semicircular two-storey

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...

s, which are in a different style from the rest of the house. The central pane of each window is octagonal. The other windows in the lower two storeys are 12-pane

sashes Sashes Island is an island in the River Thames in England at Cookham Lock near Cookham, Berkshire. It is now open farmland, but has Roman and Anglo-Saxon connections. The island is located between Hedsor Water and the present navigation chan ...

, and those in the top storey are 12-pane casements. Around the top of the house is a moulded

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 ...

, a plain

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 ...

, and a central three-bay pediment containing the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of the Smith Barry family and their motto. The right pavilion is in two storeys and three bays with 12-pane sash windows. It has a pedimented

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 ...

facing the side of the house, and a hipped roof with 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 ...

. The left pavilion has been rebuilt in a simpler form. Each pavilion is joined to the house by a wing wall containing a central round-arched pedimented doorway and two 12-pane sash window, and is topped by a vase

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

Interior

The ground floor originally contained six rooms; clockwise from the doorway they are the entrance hall, two drawing rooms, the staircase hall, the dining room, and a study or morning room. An extra room was added in the 19th century. The entrance hall is relatively plain, with a stone fireplace and pulvinated friezes over the doors. The study is panelled, and contains doorcases, a chimneypiece and an overmantel all of which are carved with flowers and fruit. The drawing rooms contain fine

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

plasterwork on both ceilings, and on the walls and the chimneypiece of the front room. Hartwell ''et al.'' describe the plasterwork as being "quite sumptuous and exceptionally delicate". In the staircase hall is a panel between the windows containing a bust of Diana, with decorative plasterwork including festoons and hunting

trophies A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, in ...

. In the upper floor, the southwest room is decorated in Chinoiserie, including pagodas, trellises and birds. Both Hartwell ''et al.'' and de Figueiredo and Treuherz argue that the plasterwork must be by Francesco Vassilli, who had worked elsewhere with Gibbs.

Surrounding buildings and grounds

In the grounds are a moat, a fishpond, kitchen garden and formal lawns. The moated site and the fishpond are designated as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. The two lodges at entrances to the drives are listed at Grade II. Both are constructed in brick with stone dressings and slate hipped roofs. Their fronts are symmetrical, with Tuscan porches, and 12-pane sash windows.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{refend Houses completed in 1755 Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire Grade I listed houses Scheduled monuments in Cheshire Country houses in Cheshire James Gibbs buildings Neoclassical architecture in Cheshire