The exterior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Location

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

History

Built 1891-3 for John Cory, the well known local industrialist and philanthropist; the architects are said to be Habershon and Fawckner of Newport. There had been an Elizabethan house on the site, successively owned by the Button and Pryce Families. Dyffryn is principally renowned for its gardens, which were laid out for Reginald Cory (John's son) by Thomas Mawson, the internationally known and prolific garden designer; work began in 1904-5. After Cory's death Dyffryn was sold in 1937 and purchased by Sir Cennydd Traherne who leased the property to the County Council. Some internal alterations were carried out in conversion to a conference centre.

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Exterior

Eclectic design derived from the French Renaissance and English Baroque styles, the former is particularly seen in the Mansard roof and some of the window treatment and the latter in the Great Hall block to the main facade. 2 storeys and attic; rendered elevations with freestone dressings. Hipped mansard slate roof with balustraded parapet over the main cornice; stone chimney stacks with bracketed cornices. The main front to N is dominated by the tall, square Hall block that projects to left of centre; this has balustraded parapet with urns and a pedimented front over a giant, 5-light, round-arched window enriched with keyblocked ornament. The symmetrical part of the design is that there are 3 storey 'towers' to centre and ends. Ground floor is advanced to right of the hall block with similar parapet and urns. Includes two, 5-light, bay windows, with similar glazing to that of the hall; between these is a similar 3-light window beside the present, round-arched, main entrance with spandrel ornament. In front of the hall block is a projecting lobby/porch and a porte-cochere onto the Carriage Court; this has paired Doric columns and a rusticated entrance surround. Glazing is mostly of horned sash type; the attic windows to the pedimented dormers are round-headed in a French manner; some heavily keystoned casement windows to ground floor left with voluted architraves. To right stone wall screens modernised part and the rear of the stable courtyard. 5-window left hand (E) side including shallow splayed bay. Symmetrical 13-bay garden front to S including projecting end 'towers' and broader projecting central bay, which is pedimented in a similar manner to that of the hall block; includes tripartite to 2nd floor and bay window below. The 'towers' have niches containing statues to ground floor. Midway between central and end bays are 2-storey splayed bays; these are linked to the central classical veranda which has paired Doric columns and balustraded parapet with ball finials. Modern extension to W and beyond that is the converted former stable courtyard with pyramidal clock-tower to S range, originally the coach-house; semi-circular windows to loft.

Reason for Listing

Graded II* for its exceptional interiors and also for the importance of its setting at the heart of Dyffryn Gardens.

References

Information from Mrs P Moore;

Mawson T (1926) The Art and Craft of Garden Making, 5th ed., p386.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

(lophura diardi) The Siamese Fireback is distributed to the lowland and evergreen forests of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia. This species is also designated as the national bird of Thailand.

The exterior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Location

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

History

Built 1891-3 for John Cory, the well known local industrialist and philanthropist; the architects are said to be Habershon and Fawckner of Newport. There had been an Elizabethan house on the site, successively owned by the Button and Pryce Families. Dyffryn is principally renowned for its gardens, which were laid out for Reginald Cory (John's son) by Thomas Mawson, the internationally known and prolific garden designer; work began in 1904-5. After Cory's death Dyffryn was sold in 1937 and purchased by Sir Cennydd Traherne who leased the property to the County Council. Some internal alterations were carried out in conversion to a conference centre.

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Exterior

Eclectic design derived from the French Renaissance and English Baroque styles, the former is particularly seen in the Mansard roof and some of the window treatment and the latter in the Great Hall block to the main facade. 2 storeys and attic; rendered elevations with freestone dressings. Hipped mansard slate roof with balustraded parapet over the main cornice; stone chimney stacks with bracketed cornices. The main front to N is dominated by the tall, square Hall block that projects to left of centre; this has balustraded parapet with urns and a pedimented front over a giant, 5-light, round-arched window enriched with keyblocked ornament. The symmetrical part of the design is that there are 3 storey 'towers' to centre and ends. Ground floor is advanced to right of the hall block with similar parapet and urns. Includes two, 5-light, bay windows, with similar glazing to that of the hall; between these is a similar 3-light window beside the present, round-arched, main entrance with spandrel ornament. In front of the hall block is a projecting lobby/porch and a porte-cochere onto the Carriage Court; this has paired Doric columns and a rusticated entrance surround. Glazing is mostly of horned sash type; the attic windows to the pedimented dormers are round-headed in a French manner; some heavily keystoned casement windows to ground floor left with voluted architraves. To right stone wall screens modernised part and the rear of the stable courtyard. 5-window left hand (E) side including shallow splayed bay. Symmetrical 13-bay garden front to S including projecting end 'towers' and broader projecting central bay, which is pedimented in a similar manner to that of the hall block; includes tripartite to 2nd floor and bay window below. The 'towers' have niches containing statues to ground floor. Midway between central and end bays are 2-storey splayed bays; these are linked to the central classical veranda which has paired Doric columns and balustraded parapet with ball finials. Modern extension to W and beyond that is the converted former stable courtyard with pyramidal clock-tower to S range, originally the coach-house; semi-circular windows to loft.

Reason for Listing

Graded II* for its exceptional interiors and also for the importance of its setting at the heart of Dyffryn Gardens.

References

Information from Mrs P Moore;

Mawson T (1926) The Art and Craft of Garden Making, 5th ed., p386.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

South Front

Statue seen at the back of the house.

The exterior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Location

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

History

Built 1891-3 for John Cory, the well known local industrialist and philanthropist; the architects are said to be Habershon and Fawckner of Newport. There had been an Elizabethan house on the site, successively owned by the Button and Pryce Families. Dyffryn is principally renowned for its gardens, which were laid out for Reginald Cory (John's son) by Thomas Mawson, the internationally known and prolific garden designer; work began in 1904-5. After Cory's death Dyffryn was sold in 1937 and purchased by Sir Cennydd Traherne who leased the property to the County Council. Some internal alterations were carried out in conversion to a conference centre.

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Exterior

Eclectic design derived from the French Renaissance and English Baroque styles, the former is particularly seen in the Mansard roof and some of the window treatment and the latter in the Great Hall block to the main facade. 2 storeys and attic; rendered elevations with freestone dressings. Hipped mansard slate roof with balustraded parapet over the main cornice; stone chimney stacks with bracketed cornices. The main front to N is dominated by the tall, square Hall block that projects to left of centre; this has balustraded parapet with urns and a pedimented front over a giant, 5-light, round-arched window enriched with keyblocked ornament. The symmetrical part of the design is that there are 3 storey 'towers' to centre and ends. Ground floor is advanced to right of the hall block with similar parapet and urns. Includes two, 5-light, bay windows, with similar glazing to that of the hall; between these is a similar 3-light window beside the present, round-arched, main entrance with spandrel ornament. In front of the hall block is a projecting lobby/porch and a porte-cochere onto the Carriage Court; this has paired Doric columns and a rusticated entrance surround. Glazing is mostly of horned sash type; the attic windows to the pedimented dormers are round-headed in a French manner; some heavily keystoned casement windows to ground floor left with voluted architraves. To right stone wall screens modernised part and the rear of the stable courtyard. 5-window left hand (E) side including shallow splayed bay. Symmetrical 13-bay garden front to S including projecting end 'towers' and broader projecting central bay, which is pedimented in a similar manner to that of the hall block; includes tripartite to 2nd floor and bay window below. The 'towers' have niches containing statues to ground floor. Midway between central and end bays are 2-storey splayed bays; these are linked to the central classical veranda which has paired Doric columns and balustraded parapet with ball finials. Modern extension to W and beyond that is the converted former stable courtyard with pyramidal clock-tower to S range, originally the coach-house; semi-circular windows to loft.

Reason for Listing

Graded II* for its exceptional interiors and also for the importance of its setting at the heart of Dyffryn Gardens.

References

Information from Mrs P Moore;

Mawson T (1926) The Art and Craft of Garden Making, 5th ed., p386.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

Door - the house doesn't open before 12pm, so we had a look around the wonderful gardens first.

Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. Female.

NEAR THREATENED

See the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species listing here: www.iucnredlist.org/species/22727431/94948930

In Lichfield near and around Staffordshire County Council - Lichfield College.

This is the Staffordshire County Council building for Lichfield College and Library Services.

It includes Lichfield Library, Lichfield Record Office, The Friary Gallery, Library, Art & Archives Committee, Education Committee and Lichfield College.

Grade II listed.

Lichfield College and Lichfield Library, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE THE FRIARY

1094-1/8/232 (South side)

05/02/52 Lichfield College and Lichfield

Library

(Formerly Listed as:

BIRMINGHAM ROAD

Lichfield Friary Grammar School for

Girls)

GV II

Part of Franciscan Friary, converted to house and then to

school. c1295, altered and extended to north, 1538, for

Gregory Stonynge; extended, 1921-8, by GC Lowbridge, County

Architect.

Ashlar and brick; tile roofs with brick stacks.

T-plan with end cross-wings, original building forming end and

cross-wing of arm to right.

Original building, known as the Bishop's Lodging, forms L-plan

with short wing. Mostly ashlar with some brick.

North wing: 2 storeys with attic; 3-window left return range.

2 offset ashlar and brick buttresses; 3 coped gables. Pointed

entrance to right end has single-chamfered arch. Tall stair

window to left end has leaded glazing, 3-light ovolo-mullioned

window to left; 1st floor has 2 mullioned and transomed

windows of 3 lights; attic has casement windows with iron

opening casements. Two C20 lateral stacks.

End has early brickwork with offset below timber-framed gable

with ogee bracing and brick infill, ashlar angle to right with

return raking buttress; small window high up to right projects

and has leaded glazing, gable has slanting window.

Right return has gabled wing to right of centre and right end

gable. Left end of ashlar with some brick; ground floor has

2-light casement and pegged cross casement both with timber

lintels and leaded glazing; 1st floor has 3 windows with

12-pane sashes.

Wing has much ashlar and brick patching, raised eaves and

diagonal buttresses; 2 windows to ground floor, one to 1st

floor, all with 12-pane sashes, attic has small-paned

casement; left return has blocked 1st floor round-headed light

with spandrels, and lateral stack; right return has large

brick section and eaves, 1st floor door to fire-escape with

rubbed brick flat arch, and lateral stack. Gabled right end

has signs of blocked openings and brick gable and angle

buttress; 1st floor door.

Rear elevation, south wing, of 2 storeys; 5-window range with

central 2-storey porch with chamfered angles and parapet; 3

offset buttresses.

Recessed entrance has steps up to recessed glazed and

fielded-panelled door. Windows have paired 18-pane horned

sashes, those to 1st floor with cornices and parapets, left

end window with inserted half-glazed door; window to right of

entrance has ex-situ gravestone of C14 or earlier below:

calvary cross fleury and worn inscription to Richard the

Merchant, found in 1746.

C20 range of brick with ashlar dressings. 2 storeys; gabled

centre with flanking 6- and 3-window ranges and wing to left

end. 3-light ovolo-mullioned-and-transomed windows; coped

gables. Centre has gabled buttresses and entrance with Tudor

head in architrave with label mould; flanking windows with

cornice above taken round base of canted oriel with vine and

grapes to base, 1:2:1-light window, flanking 3-light windows

and light above.

Range to right to front of old range; gabled centre has 1st

floor oriel. Range to left is symmetrical with 2 gabled

projections with oriels. Wing has gabled buttresses;

2:3:2-light windows and cusped panelling between floors;

7-window left return. Rear has hall wing with tall windows

with small-paned glazing and tall lateral stack; later

additions.

INTERIOR: old part has brick-vaulted cellars with ashlar

benches and shelves; C20 paired sashes to corridors and

staircase; ground floor room to wing has chamfered beams,

square panelling, corner fireplace with pilasters, frieze and

dentilled cornice; niche with shaped shelves and architrave;

attic with exposed trusses, north wing with curved principals.

C20 part has ex-situ C16 fireplace from panelled room, ashlar

with Tudor arch and lettering: GREGORY STONYNG to spandrels,

Delft tiles and cast iron fireback; late C20 alterations.

During the C18 the house was the home of Mrs Cobb and her

niece, friends of Dr Johnson, who often visited them.

(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Staffordshire: London:

1974-: P.191-2; Mullins H: History of the Friary School:

Lichfield).

Listing NGR: SK1161509321

Wasn't planning on getting anything new on Bore Street in Lichfield, but found a few things I didn't get previously.

Christmas lights still on the Guildhall of Lichfield. Not lit up, but is of Santa and his reindeer!

The Guildhall in Lichfield has been part of Lichfield's City government for 600 years. In forme times it had been a meeting place of the Corporation, but also at various times a court, a prison, police station, theatre and fire station.

The Guildhall takes its name from the ancient Guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist. The first Guildhall may have been on this site in 1387, when Richard II had confirmed the incorporation of the Guild, even though it had existed for many years.

The old prison had existed round the back since 1553.

Major rebuilding took place in 1707 and 1741, but the building was so ruinous it could of fell down.

By 1844 the Conduit Lands Trust promised to put the Guildhall right "once and for all".

In 1846 a gothic frontage was built, with the stained glass window transfered from Lichfield Cathedral in 1891.

These day the Guildhall is used for civic events and Council meetings.

The Guildhall, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BORE STREET

1094-1/8/62 (South East side)

06/03/70 The Guildhall

GV II

Guildhall. Parts probably C16 or C17 but extensively rebuilt

c1707 and extended to rear 1742; early C19 alterations; hall

rebuilt 1846-8, by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. Brick with

ashlar facade; brick rear wing; tile roofs. Right-angle plan

with earlier rear wing.

EXTERIOR: Hall in Gothic style: 2 storeys. Offset plinth,

cornice over ground floor; 1st floor offset buttresses and

sill course, coped gable. 2 pointed-arch entrances, that to

left has triple-chamfered continuous moulding and hood to

heavy door with strap hinges; that to right has hood and

paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. 1st

floor window has 5-light plate tracery with hood and relief

flower motifs, plain blind roundel above. Stair wing to left

has offset ground floor and coped parapet; 1st floor has

2-light single-chamfered plate tracery window. Plaque below

window commemorates Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra and

is flanked by their busts. Returns have 2-light 1st floor

windows with ashlar plate tracery.

Rear wing of various dates, part to rear with rubble base and

early brickwork over, incorporating blocked C16 window of 3

triangular-headed lights with brick mullions; C18 and C19

brickwork above; varied fenestration; left return has 3 sashed

windows to 1st floor.

INTERIOR: Passage with iron grille with gate and cells to

left; hall has hammerbeam roof and panelling; arch to south

has glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches

used by quarter sessions; fireplace has segmental-pointed arch

and C16 cast-iron fireback with Royal arms; 1811 stained glass

to north window taken from north transept of Cathedral in

1891, figures of founders and patrons of the Cathedral and

1891 figure of Queen Victoria. Rear staircase has simple

turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail.

c1710 cells to rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed

entrances with original doors and shuttered and barred

windows, benches and latrines; outer entrance and mullioned

window now in later infill wing.

HISTORY: The hall was used by the Guild of St Mary and St John

the Baptist until its dissolution, and by the Corporation from

1548.

Listing NGR: SK1179609481

The exterior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Location

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

History

Built 1891-3 for John Cory, the well known local industrialist and philanthropist; the architects are said to be Habershon and Fawckner of Newport. There had been an Elizabethan house on the site, successively owned by the Button and Pryce Families. Dyffryn is principally renowned for its gardens, which were laid out for Reginald Cory (John's son) by Thomas Mawson, the internationally known and prolific garden designer; work began in 1904-5. After Cory's death Dyffryn was sold in 1937 and purchased by Sir Cennydd Traherne who leased the property to the County Council. Some internal alterations were carried out in conversion to a conference centre.

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Exterior

Eclectic design derived from the French Renaissance and English Baroque styles, the former is particularly seen in the Mansard roof and some of the window treatment and the latter in the Great Hall block to the main facade. 2 storeys and attic; rendered elevations with freestone dressings. Hipped mansard slate roof with balustraded parapet over the main cornice; stone chimney stacks with bracketed cornices. The main front to N is dominated by the tall, square Hall block that projects to left of centre; this has balustraded parapet with urns and a pedimented front over a giant, 5-light, round-arched window enriched with keyblocked ornament. The symmetrical part of the design is that there are 3 storey 'towers' to centre and ends. Ground floor is advanced to right of the hall block with similar parapet and urns. Includes two, 5-light, bay windows, with similar glazing to that of the hall; between these is a similar 3-light window beside the present, round-arched, main entrance with spandrel ornament. In front of the hall block is a projecting lobby/porch and a porte-cochere onto the Carriage Court; this has paired Doric columns and a rusticated entrance surround. Glazing is mostly of horned sash type; the attic windows to the pedimented dormers are round-headed in a French manner; some heavily keystoned casement windows to ground floor left with voluted architraves. To right stone wall screens modernised part and the rear of the stable courtyard. 5-window left hand (E) side including shallow splayed bay. Symmetrical 13-bay garden front to S including projecting end 'towers' and broader projecting central bay, which is pedimented in a similar manner to that of the hall block; includes tripartite to 2nd floor and bay window below. The 'towers' have niches containing statues to ground floor. Midway between central and end bays are 2-storey splayed bays; these are linked to the central classical veranda which has paired Doric columns and balustraded parapet with ball finials. Modern extension to W and beyond that is the converted former stable courtyard with pyramidal clock-tower to S range, originally the coach-house; semi-circular windows to loft.

Reason for Listing

Graded II* for its exceptional interiors and also for the importance of its setting at the heart of Dyffryn Gardens.

References

Information from Mrs P Moore;

Mawson T (1926) The Art and Craft of Garden Making, 5th ed., p386.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

South Front

Tan Phu

The exterior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Location

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

History

Built 1891-3 for John Cory, the well known local industrialist and philanthropist; the architects are said to be Habershon and Fawckner of Newport. There had been an Elizabethan house on the site, successively owned by the Button and Pryce Families. Dyffryn is principally renowned for its gardens, which were laid out for Reginald Cory (John's son) by Thomas Mawson, the internationally known and prolific garden designer; work began in 1904-5. After Cory's death Dyffryn was sold in 1937 and purchased by Sir Cennydd Traherne who leased the property to the County Council. Some internal alterations were carried out in conversion to a conference centre.

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Exterior

Eclectic design derived from the French Renaissance and English Baroque styles, the former is particularly seen in the Mansard roof and some of the window treatment and the latter in the Great Hall block to the main facade. 2 storeys and attic; rendered elevations with freestone dressings. Hipped mansard slate roof with balustraded parapet over the main cornice; stone chimney stacks with bracketed cornices. The main front to N is dominated by the tall, square Hall block that projects to left of centre; this has balustraded parapet with urns and a pedimented front over a giant, 5-light, round-arched window enriched with keyblocked ornament. The symmetrical part of the design is that there are 3 storey 'towers' to centre and ends. Ground floor is advanced to right of the hall block with similar parapet and urns. Includes two, 5-light, bay windows, with similar glazing to that of the hall; between these is a similar 3-light window beside the present, round-arched, main entrance with spandrel ornament. In front of the hall block is a projecting lobby/porch and a porte-cochere onto the Carriage Court; this has paired Doric columns and a rusticated entrance surround. Glazing is mostly of horned sash type; the attic windows to the pedimented dormers are round-headed in a French manner; some heavily keystoned casement windows to ground floor left with voluted architraves. To right stone wall screens modernised part and the rear of the stable courtyard. 5-window left hand (E) side including shallow splayed bay. Symmetrical 13-bay garden front to S including projecting end 'towers' and broader projecting central bay, which is pedimented in a similar manner to that of the hall block; includes tripartite to 2nd floor and bay window below. The 'towers' have niches containing statues to ground floor. Midway between central and end bays are 2-storey splayed bays; these are linked to the central classical veranda which has paired Doric columns and balustraded parapet with ball finials. Modern extension to W and beyond that is the converted former stable courtyard with pyramidal clock-tower to S range, originally the coach-house; semi-circular windows to loft.

Reason for Listing

Graded II* for its exceptional interiors and also for the importance of its setting at the heart of Dyffryn Gardens.

References

Information from Mrs P Moore;

Mawson T (1926) The Art and Craft of Garden Making, 5th ed., p386.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

The Guildhall in Lichfield has been part of Lichfield's City government for 600 years. In forme times it had been a meeting place of the Corporation, but also at various times a court, a prison, police station, theatre and fire station.

The Guildhall takes its name from the ancient Guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist. The first Guildhall may have been on this site in 1387, when Richard II had confirmed the incorporation of the Guild, even though it had existed for many years.

The old prison had existed round the back since 1553.

Major rebuilding took place in 1707 and 1741, but the building was so ruinous it could of fell down.

By 1844 the Conduit Lands Trust promised to put the Guildhall right "once and for all".

In 1846 a gothic frontage was built, with the stained glass window transfered from Lichfield Cathedral in 1891.

These day the Guildhall is used for civic events and Council meetings.

The Guildhall, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BORE STREET

1094-1/8/62 (South East side)

06/03/70 The Guildhall

GV II

Guildhall. Parts probably C16 or C17 but extensively rebuilt

c1707 and extended to rear 1742; early C19 alterations; hall

rebuilt 1846-8, by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. Brick with

ashlar facade; brick rear wing; tile roofs. Right-angle plan

with earlier rear wing.

EXTERIOR: Hall in Gothic style: 2 storeys. Offset plinth,

cornice over ground floor; 1st floor offset buttresses and

sill course, coped gable. 2 pointed-arch entrances, that to

left has triple-chamfered continuous moulding and hood to

heavy door with strap hinges; that to right has hood and

paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. 1st

floor window has 5-light plate tracery with hood and relief

flower motifs, plain blind roundel above. Stair wing to left

has offset ground floor and coped parapet; 1st floor has

2-light single-chamfered plate tracery window. Plaque below

window commemorates Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra and

is flanked by their busts. Returns have 2-light 1st floor

windows with ashlar plate tracery.

Rear wing of various dates, part to rear with rubble base and

early brickwork over, incorporating blocked C16 window of 3

triangular-headed lights with brick mullions; C18 and C19

brickwork above; varied fenestration; left return has 3 sashed

windows to 1st floor.

INTERIOR: Passage with iron grille with gate and cells to

left; hall has hammerbeam roof and panelling; arch to south

has glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches

used by quarter sessions; fireplace has segmental-pointed arch

and C16 cast-iron fireback with Royal arms; 1811 stained glass

to north window taken from north transept of Cathedral in

1891, figures of founders and patrons of the Cathedral and

1891 figure of Queen Victoria. Rear staircase has simple

turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail.

c1710 cells to rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed

entrances with original doors and shuttered and barred

windows, benches and latrines; outer entrance and mullioned

window now in later infill wing.

HISTORY: The hall was used by the Guild of St Mary and St John

the Baptist until its dissolution, and by the Corporation from

1548.

Listing NGR: SK1179609481

Next to the Guildhall is a Georgian Townhouse on Bore Street in Lichfield calld Donegal House. It is Grade II* listed. It is sandwiched between Lichfield's Guildhall and the Tudor Cafe. It was built for local merchant James Robinson in 1730.

Donegal House

In Lichfield near and around Staffordshire County Council - Lichfield College.

This is the Staffordshire County Council building for Lichfield College and Library Services.

It includes Lichfield Library, Lichfield Record Office, The Friary Gallery, Library, Art & Archives Committee, Education Committee and Lichfield College.

Scaffolding on the end near St John Street.

Grade II listed.

Lichfield College and Lichfield Library, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE THE FRIARY

1094-1/8/232 (South side)

05/02/52 Lichfield College and Lichfield

Library

(Formerly Listed as:

BIRMINGHAM ROAD

Lichfield Friary Grammar School for

Girls)

GV II

Part of Franciscan Friary, converted to house and then to

school. c1295, altered and extended to north, 1538, for

Gregory Stonynge; extended, 1921-8, by GC Lowbridge, County

Architect.

Ashlar and brick; tile roofs with brick stacks.

T-plan with end cross-wings, original building forming end and

cross-wing of arm to right.

Original building, known as the Bishop's Lodging, forms L-plan

with short wing. Mostly ashlar with some brick.

North wing: 2 storeys with attic; 3-window left return range.

2 offset ashlar and brick buttresses; 3 coped gables. Pointed

entrance to right end has single-chamfered arch. Tall stair

window to left end has leaded glazing, 3-light ovolo-mullioned

window to left; 1st floor has 2 mullioned and transomed

windows of 3 lights; attic has casement windows with iron

opening casements. Two C20 lateral stacks.

End has early brickwork with offset below timber-framed gable

with ogee bracing and brick infill, ashlar angle to right with

return raking buttress; small window high up to right projects

and has leaded glazing, gable has slanting window.

Right return has gabled wing to right of centre and right end

gable. Left end of ashlar with some brick; ground floor has

2-light casement and pegged cross casement both with timber

lintels and leaded glazing; 1st floor has 3 windows with

12-pane sashes.

Wing has much ashlar and brick patching, raised eaves and

diagonal buttresses; 2 windows to ground floor, one to 1st

floor, all with 12-pane sashes, attic has small-paned

casement; left return has blocked 1st floor round-headed light

with spandrels, and lateral stack; right return has large

brick section and eaves, 1st floor door to fire-escape with

rubbed brick flat arch, and lateral stack. Gabled right end

has signs of blocked openings and brick gable and angle

buttress; 1st floor door.

Rear elevation, south wing, of 2 storeys; 5-window range with

central 2-storey porch with chamfered angles and parapet; 3

offset buttresses.

Recessed entrance has steps up to recessed glazed and

fielded-panelled door. Windows have paired 18-pane horned

sashes, those to 1st floor with cornices and parapets, left

end window with inserted half-glazed door; window to right of

entrance has ex-situ gravestone of C14 or earlier below:

calvary cross fleury and worn inscription to Richard the

Merchant, found in 1746.

C20 range of brick with ashlar dressings. 2 storeys; gabled

centre with flanking 6- and 3-window ranges and wing to left

end. 3-light ovolo-mullioned-and-transomed windows; coped

gables. Centre has gabled buttresses and entrance with Tudor

head in architrave with label mould; flanking windows with

cornice above taken round base of canted oriel with vine and

grapes to base, 1:2:1-light window, flanking 3-light windows

and light above.

Range to right to front of old range; gabled centre has 1st

floor oriel. Range to left is symmetrical with 2 gabled

projections with oriels. Wing has gabled buttresses;

2:3:2-light windows and cusped panelling between floors;

7-window left return. Rear has hall wing with tall windows

with small-paned glazing and tall lateral stack; later

additions.

INTERIOR: old part has brick-vaulted cellars with ashlar

benches and shelves; C20 paired sashes to corridors and

staircase; ground floor room to wing has chamfered beams,

square panelling, corner fireplace with pilasters, frieze and

dentilled cornice; niche with shaped shelves and architrave;

attic with exposed trusses, north wing with curved principals.

C20 part has ex-situ C16 fireplace from panelled room, ashlar

with Tudor arch and lettering: GREGORY STONYNG to spandrels,

Delft tiles and cast iron fireback; late C20 alterations.

During the C18 the house was the home of Mrs Cobb and her

niece, friends of Dr Johnson, who often visited them.

(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Staffordshire: London:

1974-: P.191-2; Mullins H: History of the Friary School:

Lichfield).

Listing NGR: SK1161509321

In Lichfield near and around Staffordshire County Council - Lichfield College.

This is the Staffordshire County Council building for Lichfield College and Library Services.

It includes Lichfield Library, Lichfield Record Office, The Friary Gallery, Library, Art & Archives Committee, Education Committee and Lichfield College.

Scaffolding on the end near St John Street.

Grade II listed.

Lichfield College and Lichfield Library, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE THE FRIARY

1094-1/8/232 (South side)

05/02/52 Lichfield College and Lichfield

Library

(Formerly Listed as:

BIRMINGHAM ROAD

Lichfield Friary Grammar School for

Girls)

GV II

Part of Franciscan Friary, converted to house and then to

school. c1295, altered and extended to north, 1538, for

Gregory Stonynge; extended, 1921-8, by GC Lowbridge, County

Architect.

Ashlar and brick; tile roofs with brick stacks.

T-plan with end cross-wings, original building forming end and

cross-wing of arm to right.

Original building, known as the Bishop's Lodging, forms L-plan

with short wing. Mostly ashlar with some brick.

North wing: 2 storeys with attic; 3-window left return range.

2 offset ashlar and brick buttresses; 3 coped gables. Pointed

entrance to right end has single-chamfered arch. Tall stair

window to left end has leaded glazing, 3-light ovolo-mullioned

window to left; 1st floor has 2 mullioned and transomed

windows of 3 lights; attic has casement windows with iron

opening casements. Two C20 lateral stacks.

End has early brickwork with offset below timber-framed gable

with ogee bracing and brick infill, ashlar angle to right with

return raking buttress; small window high up to right projects

and has leaded glazing, gable has slanting window.

Right return has gabled wing to right of centre and right end

gable. Left end of ashlar with some brick; ground floor has

2-light casement and pegged cross casement both with timber

lintels and leaded glazing; 1st floor has 3 windows with

12-pane sashes.

Wing has much ashlar and brick patching, raised eaves and

diagonal buttresses; 2 windows to ground floor, one to 1st

floor, all with 12-pane sashes, attic has small-paned

casement; left return has blocked 1st floor round-headed light

with spandrels, and lateral stack; right return has large

brick section and eaves, 1st floor door to fire-escape with

rubbed brick flat arch, and lateral stack. Gabled right end

has signs of blocked openings and brick gable and angle

buttress; 1st floor door.

Rear elevation, south wing, of 2 storeys; 5-window range with

central 2-storey porch with chamfered angles and parapet; 3

offset buttresses.

Recessed entrance has steps up to recessed glazed and

fielded-panelled door. Windows have paired 18-pane horned

sashes, those to 1st floor with cornices and parapets, left

end window with inserted half-glazed door; window to right of

entrance has ex-situ gravestone of C14 or earlier below:

calvary cross fleury and worn inscription to Richard the

Merchant, found in 1746.

C20 range of brick with ashlar dressings. 2 storeys; gabled

centre with flanking 6- and 3-window ranges and wing to left

end. 3-light ovolo-mullioned-and-transomed windows; coped

gables. Centre has gabled buttresses and entrance with Tudor

head in architrave with label mould; flanking windows with

cornice above taken round base of canted oriel with vine and

grapes to base, 1:2:1-light window, flanking 3-light windows

and light above.

Range to right to front of old range; gabled centre has 1st

floor oriel. Range to left is symmetrical with 2 gabled

projections with oriels. Wing has gabled buttresses;

2:3:2-light windows and cusped panelling between floors;

7-window left return. Rear has hall wing with tall windows

with small-paned glazing and tall lateral stack; later

additions.

INTERIOR: old part has brick-vaulted cellars with ashlar

benches and shelves; C20 paired sashes to corridors and

staircase; ground floor room to wing has chamfered beams,

square panelling, corner fireplace with pilasters, frieze and

dentilled cornice; niche with shaped shelves and architrave;

attic with exposed trusses, north wing with curved principals.

C20 part has ex-situ C16 fireplace from panelled room, ashlar

with Tudor arch and lettering: GREGORY STONYNG to spandrels,

Delft tiles and cast iron fireback; late C20 alterations.

During the C18 the house was the home of Mrs Cobb and her

niece, friends of Dr Johnson, who often visited them.

(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Staffordshire: London:

1974-: P.191-2; Mullins H: History of the Friary School:

Lichfield).

Listing NGR: SK1161509321

The Pierhead Building near Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff Bay.

The Pierhead Building (Welsh: Adeilad y Pierhead) is a Grade 1 listed building of the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff Bay, Wales. It stands as one of the city of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks and was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company.

The clock on the building is unofficially known as the "Baby Big Ben" or the "Big Ben of Wales", and also serves as a Welsh history museum. The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the National Assembly for Wales, which also includes the Senedd and Ty Hywel.

It is a Grade I listed building.

Pier Head Building, Butetown

Location

Faces S across Cardiff Bay. To E of the Industrial and Maritime Museum, between entrances to Bute East and West Docks.

History

Built in 1896 by William Frame, assistant to William Burges as offices for the Cardiff Railway Company, sucessor to the Bute Dock Company. Medievalist style with strong influence of Burges (in contrast to the Classical dock offices at Barry) combining muscular Gothic and French Renaissance elements. 2-storeys; brightly constructed throughout in glazed terracotta, representing a fine example of the use of this material; abundant sculptural ornament and banding. Slate roofs; small-pane glazing, round headed to 1st floor and square headed below.

Interior

Entrance is onto square lobby, decoratively tiled and with panelled ceiling; round arched recesses to both sides with labels and nook shafts. This leads through to tall and grand hall; includes terrazzo floor, with central roundel repeating the company's motto and panelled ceiling. Church-like, double-arcaded hall of offices to rear through full height, moulded arch with foliage spandrels; terracotta detail includes twin pilasters between each arch, rising to carry the glazed clerestory roof along the central nave. The main stairwell leads off the front right hand corner of the entrance hall. The staircase is enriched by varied and colourful materials including granite treads, terracotta (stellar-section) balusters including enormous newels and green-glazed tile handrail; gilded Minton style tilework to dado (ca 1.8m high) - includes swagged band to top. The single-best room is the Port Manager's office on 1st floor with castellated and canopied 'medieval' chimneypiece with heavily foliated columns and herringbone tiled fireback; panelled ceiling with pendant to octagonal centrepiece. Round arch into corner tower bay in this office and that below. Crenellated and half-glazed partitions to 1st floor office corridors; panelled doors. Original ironwork spiral stairs inside clock-tower manufactured by St Pancras Ironwork Co, London; curved braces to treads.

Exterior

Design dominated by 2-stage clock tower at S end over main entrance; pyramidal roof and crenellated parapet with gargoyles. Clock faces recessed beneath semi-circular arches with fleuron panelled balconies; flanking lions heads and coats of arms. Splayed oriel over main entrance including crenellated transom and machicolated bracket base. Squat round arched entrance with deeply rounded jambs; battered bases to flanking octagonal and domed turrets. Panelled doors, half-glazed tympanum and swirling bands of foliage. Larger, Low Countries style, polygonal corner towers beyond, incorporated into main rooms and glazed to each face; pyramidal roof, gargoyles, colonnettes and foliage band between floors. 7-bay left hand side, the southernmost of which is taken up with exceptional chimney breast, heavily enriched with terracotta ornament including steam train and ship over the company's motto 'Wrth ddwr a than'; the whole set in a tiered frontispiece-like frame and topped by 3-linked chimney stacks; bronze commemorative plaque to base. Central 3-bays are divided by buttresses with polygonal faces and domed caps. Steep-hipped roof tower beyond over entrance inscribed Bute Docks Co. ; round arched with panelled surround; chimney stack and band of narrow round arched panels to top. Northernmost bay has bracketed gable-oriel with 3-light transomed window; gable has blind oculus and finials. Simpler right hand side with central 3-bays divided off as before; 2-windows near southern end are set in foliage surround. Plain N end.

Reason for Listing

Listed Grade I as a central and especially important building to the historical and visual dockscape of Cardiff; it is furthermore an exceptional Victorian building reflecting the confidence of the period in its flamboyant architectural detail, particularly in its use of terracotta.

References

M Parker and N Carter, Butetown, A Visitors Guide, 1989, p.5.

The Inner Harbour - An Historical Appraisal. An unpublished report prepared by The Survey of Cardiff for Cardiff Bay Development Corporation, March 1989, pp 103-4.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Faces S across Cardiff Bay. To E of the Industrial and Maritime Museum, between entrances to Bute East and West Docks.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

The Statue of Ivor Novello can be seen here with the Pierhead Building.

The exterior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Location

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

History

Built 1891-3 for John Cory, the well known local industrialist and philanthropist; the architects are said to be Habershon and Fawckner of Newport. There had been an Elizabethan house on the site, successively owned by the Button and Pryce Families. Dyffryn is principally renowned for its gardens, which were laid out for Reginald Cory (John's son) by Thomas Mawson, the internationally known and prolific garden designer; work began in 1904-5. After Cory's death Dyffryn was sold in 1937 and purchased by Sir Cennydd Traherne who leased the property to the County Council. Some internal alterations were carried out in conversion to a conference centre.

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Exterior

Eclectic design derived from the French Renaissance and English Baroque styles, the former is particularly seen in the Mansard roof and some of the window treatment and the latter in the Great Hall block to the main facade. 2 storeys and attic; rendered elevations with freestone dressings. Hipped mansard slate roof with balustraded parapet over the main cornice; stone chimney stacks with bracketed cornices. The main front to N is dominated by the tall, square Hall block that projects to left of centre; this has balustraded parapet with urns and a pedimented front over a giant, 5-light, round-arched window enriched with keyblocked ornament. The symmetrical part of the design is that there are 3 storey 'towers' to centre and ends. Ground floor is advanced to right of the hall block with similar parapet and urns. Includes two, 5-light, bay windows, with similar glazing to that of the hall; between these is a similar 3-light window beside the present, round-arched, main entrance with spandrel ornament. In front of the hall block is a projecting lobby/porch and a porte-cochere onto the Carriage Court; this has paired Doric columns and a rusticated entrance surround. Glazing is mostly of horned sash type; the attic windows to the pedimented dormers are round-headed in a French manner; some heavily keystoned casement windows to ground floor left with voluted architraves. To right stone wall screens modernised part and the rear of the stable courtyard. 5-window left hand (E) side including shallow splayed bay. Symmetrical 13-bay garden front to S including projecting end 'towers' and broader projecting central bay, which is pedimented in a similar manner to that of the hall block; includes tripartite to 2nd floor and bay window below. The 'towers' have niches containing statues to ground floor. Midway between central and end bays are 2-storey splayed bays; these are linked to the central classical veranda which has paired Doric columns and balustraded parapet with ball finials. Modern extension to W and beyond that is the converted former stable courtyard with pyramidal clock-tower to S range, originally the coach-house; semi-circular windows to loft.

Reason for Listing

Graded II* for its exceptional interiors and also for the importance of its setting at the heart of Dyffryn Gardens.

References

Information from Mrs P Moore;

Mawson T (1926) The Art and Craft of Garden Making, 5th ed., p386.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

The Pierhead Building near Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff Bay.

The Pierhead Building (Welsh: Adeilad y Pierhead) is a Grade 1 listed building of the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff Bay, Wales. It stands as one of the city of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks and was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company.

The clock on the building is unofficially known as the "Baby Big Ben" or the "Big Ben of Wales", and also serves as a Welsh history museum. The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the National Assembly for Wales, which also includes the Senedd and Ty Hywel.

It is a Grade I listed building.

Pier Head Building, Butetown

Location

Faces S across Cardiff Bay. To E of the Industrial and Maritime Museum, between entrances to Bute East and West Docks.

History

Built in 1896 by William Frame, assistant to William Burges as offices for the Cardiff Railway Company, sucessor to the Bute Dock Company. Medievalist style with strong influence of Burges (in contrast to the Classical dock offices at Barry) combining muscular Gothic and French Renaissance elements. 2-storeys; brightly constructed throughout in glazed terracotta, representing a fine example of the use of this material; abundant sculptural ornament and banding. Slate roofs; small-pane glazing, round headed to 1st floor and square headed below.

Interior

Entrance is onto square lobby, decoratively tiled and with panelled ceiling; round arched recesses to both sides with labels and nook shafts. This leads through to tall and grand hall; includes terrazzo floor, with central roundel repeating the company's motto and panelled ceiling. Church-like, double-arcaded hall of offices to rear through full height, moulded arch with foliage spandrels; terracotta detail includes twin pilasters between each arch, rising to carry the glazed clerestory roof along the central nave. The main stairwell leads off the front right hand corner of the entrance hall. The staircase is enriched by varied and colourful materials including granite treads, terracotta (stellar-section) balusters including enormous newels and green-glazed tile handrail; gilded Minton style tilework to dado (ca 1.8m high) - includes swagged band to top. The single-best room is the Port Manager's office on 1st floor with castellated and canopied 'medieval' chimneypiece with heavily foliated columns and herringbone tiled fireback; panelled ceiling with pendant to octagonal centrepiece. Round arch into corner tower bay in this office and that below. Crenellated and half-glazed partitions to 1st floor office corridors; panelled doors. Original ironwork spiral stairs inside clock-tower manufactured by St Pancras Ironwork Co, London; curved braces to treads.

Exterior

Design dominated by 2-stage clock tower at S end over main entrance; pyramidal roof and crenellated parapet with gargoyles. Clock faces recessed beneath semi-circular arches with fleuron panelled balconies; flanking lions heads and coats of arms. Splayed oriel over main entrance including crenellated transom and machicolated bracket base. Squat round arched entrance with deeply rounded jambs; battered bases to flanking octagonal and domed turrets. Panelled doors, half-glazed tympanum and swirling bands of foliage. Larger, Low Countries style, polygonal corner towers beyond, incorporated into main rooms and glazed to each face; pyramidal roof, gargoyles, colonnettes and foliage band between floors. 7-bay left hand side, the southernmost of which is taken up with exceptional chimney breast, heavily enriched with terracotta ornament including steam train and ship over the company's motto 'Wrth ddwr a than'; the whole set in a tiered frontispiece-like frame and topped by 3-linked chimney stacks; bronze commemorative plaque to base. Central 3-bays are divided by buttresses with polygonal faces and domed caps. Steep-hipped roof tower beyond over entrance inscribed Bute Docks Co. ; round arched with panelled surround; chimney stack and band of narrow round arched panels to top. Northernmost bay has bracketed gable-oriel with 3-light transomed window; gable has blind oculus and finials. Simpler right hand side with central 3-bays divided off as before; 2-windows near southern end are set in foliage surround. Plain N end.

Reason for Listing

Listed Grade I as a central and especially important building to the historical and visual dockscape of Cardiff; it is furthermore an exceptional Victorian building reflecting the confidence of the period in its flamboyant architectural detail, particularly in its use of terracotta.

References

M Parker and N Carter, Butetown, A Visitors Guide, 1989, p.5.

The Inner Harbour - An Historical Appraisal. An unpublished report prepared by The Survey of Cardiff for Cardiff Bay Development Corporation, March 1989, pp 103-4.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Faces S across Cardiff Bay. To E of the Industrial and Maritime Museum, between entrances to Bute East and West Docks.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

In the era of wooden houses firebacks were a necessary way of retaining flames, heat and sparks within the fireplace

Customer order.

The exterior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Location

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

History

Built 1891-3 for John Cory, the well known local industrialist and philanthropist; the architects are said to be Habershon and Fawckner of Newport. There had been an Elizabethan house on the site, successively owned by the Button and Pryce Families. Dyffryn is principally renowned for its gardens, which were laid out for Reginald Cory (John's son) by Thomas Mawson, the internationally known and prolific garden designer; work began in 1904-5. After Cory's death Dyffryn was sold in 1937 and purchased by Sir Cennydd Traherne who leased the property to the County Council. Some internal alterations were carried out in conversion to a conference centre.

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Exterior

Eclectic design derived from the French Renaissance and English Baroque styles, the former is particularly seen in the Mansard roof and some of the window treatment and the latter in the Great Hall block to the main facade. 2 storeys and attic; rendered elevations with freestone dressings. Hipped mansard slate roof with balustraded parapet over the main cornice; stone chimney stacks with bracketed cornices. The main front to N is dominated by the tall, square Hall block that projects to left of centre; this has balustraded parapet with urns and a pedimented front over a giant, 5-light, round-arched window enriched with keyblocked ornament. The symmetrical part of the design is that there are 3 storey 'towers' to centre and ends. Ground floor is advanced to right of the hall block with similar parapet and urns. Includes two, 5-light, bay windows, with similar glazing to that of the hall; between these is a similar 3-light window beside the present, round-arched, main entrance with spandrel ornament. In front of the hall block is a projecting lobby/porch and a porte-cochere onto the Carriage Court; this has paired Doric columns and a rusticated entrance surround. Glazing is mostly of horned sash type; the attic windows to the pedimented dormers are round-headed in a French manner; some heavily keystoned casement windows to ground floor left with voluted architraves. To right stone wall screens modernised part and the rear of the stable courtyard. 5-window left hand (E) side including shallow splayed bay. Symmetrical 13-bay garden front to S including projecting end 'towers' and broader projecting central bay, which is pedimented in a similar manner to that of the hall block; includes tripartite to 2nd floor and bay window below. The 'towers' have niches containing statues to ground floor. Midway between central and end bays are 2-storey splayed bays; these are linked to the central classical veranda which has paired Doric columns and balustraded parapet with ball finials. Modern extension to W and beyond that is the converted former stable courtyard with pyramidal clock-tower to S range, originally the coach-house; semi-circular windows to loft.

Reason for Listing

Graded II* for its exceptional interiors and also for the importance of its setting at the heart of Dyffryn Gardens.

References

Information from Mrs P Moore;

Mawson T (1926) The Art and Craft of Garden Making, 5th ed., p386.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Set within the large public grounds of Dyffryn Gardens; 2km to south of St Nicholas.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

Seen from the Walled Garden.

4 kinds of Pheasants in a few hours at Phu Luang

Wildlife Sanctuary. 2017.07.23

Red Junglefowl 4, Silver Pheasant 3, Green peafowl 4, Siamese Fireback 7

Piles of collapsed stone chimneys are all that remain of 116 log hut dwellings of Continental Army soldiers from the winter of 1778/79 at Putnam Memorial State Park.

Known as "Connecticut's Valley Forge", Putnam Memorial State Park preserves the site that Continental Army Major General Israel Putnam chose as the winter encampment for his men during the winter of 1778/79 during the American Revolutionary War.

putnampark.org/

In the era of wooden houses firebacks were a necessary way of retaining flames, heat and sparks within the fireplace

The interior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Staircase

Maker:

Born:

Active: UK

Medium: albumen print from wet plate collodion negative

Size: 2 1/4 in x 4 in

Location: France

Object No. 2022.202a

Shelf: E-19

Publication:

Other Collections:

Provenance: maaland

Rank: 42

Notes: William Alexander Archibald Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton and 8th Duke of Brandon (19 February 1811 – 8 July 1863) styled Earl of Angus before 1819 and Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale between 1819 and 1852, was a Scottish nobleman and the Premier Peer of Scotland. He was the son of Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton and Susan Euphemia Beckford, daughter of English novelist William Beckford. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He was Knight Marischal of Scotland from 1846 and Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire from 1852 until his death. Though he had married in 1843, the duke did not succeed to his title until 1852. In that year, he purchased the house located at 22 Arlington Street in St. James's, a district of the City of Westminster in central London from Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort for £60,000. The duke lavished expenses on the house for approximately a decade, including installing iron firebacks with his coronet and motto. Upon his death, the house passed to his widow who sold it to Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne via auction in 1867.

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The Pierhead Building near Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff Bay.

The Pierhead Building (Welsh: Adeilad y Pierhead) is a Grade 1 listed building of the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff Bay, Wales. It stands as one of the city of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks and was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company.

The clock on the building is unofficially known as the "Baby Big Ben" or the "Big Ben of Wales", and also serves as a Welsh history museum. The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the National Assembly for Wales, which also includes the Senedd and Ty Hywel.

It is a Grade I listed building.

Pier Head Building, Butetown

Location

Faces S across Cardiff Bay. To E of the Industrial and Maritime Museum, between entrances to Bute East and West Docks.

History

Built in 1896 by William Frame, assistant to William Burges as offices for the Cardiff Railway Company, sucessor to the Bute Dock Company. Medievalist style with strong influence of Burges (in contrast to the Classical dock offices at Barry) combining muscular Gothic and French Renaissance elements. 2-storeys; brightly constructed throughout in glazed terracotta, representing a fine example of the use of this material; abundant sculptural ornament and banding. Slate roofs; small-pane glazing, round headed to 1st floor and square headed below.

Interior

Entrance is onto square lobby, decoratively tiled and with panelled ceiling; round arched recesses to both sides with labels and nook shafts. This leads through to tall and grand hall; includes terrazzo floor, with central roundel repeating the company's motto and panelled ceiling. Church-like, double-arcaded hall of offices to rear through full height, moulded arch with foliage spandrels; terracotta detail includes twin pilasters between each arch, rising to carry the glazed clerestory roof along the central nave. The main stairwell leads off the front right hand corner of the entrance hall. The staircase is enriched by varied and colourful materials including granite treads, terracotta (stellar-section) balusters including enormous newels and green-glazed tile handrail; gilded Minton style tilework to dado (ca 1.8m high) - includes swagged band to top. The single-best room is the Port Manager's office on 1st floor with castellated and canopied 'medieval' chimneypiece with heavily foliated columns and herringbone tiled fireback; panelled ceiling with pendant to octagonal centrepiece. Round arch into corner tower bay in this office and that below. Crenellated and half-glazed partitions to 1st floor office corridors; panelled doors. Original ironwork spiral stairs inside clock-tower manufactured by St Pancras Ironwork Co, London; curved braces to treads.

Exterior

Design dominated by 2-stage clock tower at S end over main entrance; pyramidal roof and crenellated parapet with gargoyles. Clock faces recessed beneath semi-circular arches with fleuron panelled balconies; flanking lions heads and coats of arms. Splayed oriel over main entrance including crenellated transom and machicolated bracket base. Squat round arched entrance with deeply rounded jambs; battered bases to flanking octagonal and domed turrets. Panelled doors, half-glazed tympanum and swirling bands of foliage. Larger, Low Countries style, polygonal corner towers beyond, incorporated into main rooms and glazed to each face; pyramidal roof, gargoyles, colonnettes and foliage band between floors. 7-bay left hand side, the southernmost of which is taken up with exceptional chimney breast, heavily enriched with terracotta ornament including steam train and ship over the company's motto 'Wrth ddwr a than'; the whole set in a tiered frontispiece-like frame and topped by 3-linked chimney stacks; bronze commemorative plaque to base. Central 3-bays are divided by buttresses with polygonal faces and domed caps. Steep-hipped roof tower beyond over entrance inscribed Bute Docks Co. ; round arched with panelled surround; chimney stack and band of narrow round arched panels to top. Northernmost bay has bracketed gable-oriel with 3-light transomed window; gable has blind oculus and finials. Simpler right hand side with central 3-bays divided off as before; 2-windows near southern end are set in foliage surround. Plain N end.

Reason for Listing

Listed Grade I as a central and especially important building to the historical and visual dockscape of Cardiff; it is furthermore an exceptional Victorian building reflecting the confidence of the period in its flamboyant architectural detail, particularly in its use of terracotta.

References

M Parker and N Carter, Butetown, A Visitors Guide, 1989, p.5.

The Inner Harbour - An Historical Appraisal. An unpublished report prepared by The Survey of Cardiff for Cardiff Bay Development Corporation, March 1989, pp 103-4.

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Notes:

Faces S across Cardiff Bay. To E of the Industrial and Maritime Museum, between entrances to Bute East and West Docks.

Source: Cadw

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

The Guildhall in Lichfield has been part of Lichfield's City government for 600 years. In forme times it had been a meeting place of the Corporation, but also at various times a court, a prison, police station, theatre and fire station.

The Guildhall takes its name from the ancient Guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist. The first Guildhall may have been on this site in 1387, when Richard II had confirmed the incorporation of the Guild, even though it had existed for many years.

The old prison had existed round the back since 1553.

Major rebuilding took place in 1707 and 1741, but the building was so ruinous it could of fell down.

By 1844 the Conduit Lands Trust promised to put the Guildhall right "once and for all".

In 1846 a gothic frontage was built, with the stained glass window transfered from Lichfield Cathedral in 1891.

These day the Guildhall is used for civic events and Council meetings.

The Guildhall, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BORE STREET

1094-1/8/62 (South East side)

06/03/70 The Guildhall

GV II

Guildhall. Parts probably C16 or C17 but extensively rebuilt

c1707 and extended to rear 1742; early C19 alterations; hall

rebuilt 1846-8, by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. Brick with

ashlar facade; brick rear wing; tile roofs. Right-angle plan

with earlier rear wing.

EXTERIOR: Hall in Gothic style: 2 storeys. Offset plinth,

cornice over ground floor; 1st floor offset buttresses and

sill course, coped gable. 2 pointed-arch entrances, that to

left has triple-chamfered continuous moulding and hood to

heavy door with strap hinges; that to right has hood and

paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. 1st

floor window has 5-light plate tracery with hood and relief

flower motifs, plain blind roundel above. Stair wing to left

has offset ground floor and coped parapet; 1st floor has

2-light single-chamfered plate tracery window. Plaque below

window commemorates Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra and

is flanked by their busts. Returns have 2-light 1st floor

windows with ashlar plate tracery.

Rear wing of various dates, part to rear with rubble base and

early brickwork over, incorporating blocked C16 window of 3

triangular-headed lights with brick mullions; C18 and C19

brickwork above; varied fenestration; left return has 3 sashed

windows to 1st floor.

INTERIOR: Passage with iron grille with gate and cells to

left; hall has hammerbeam roof and panelling; arch to south

has glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches

used by quarter sessions; fireplace has segmental-pointed arch

and C16 cast-iron fireback with Royal arms; 1811 stained glass

to north window taken from north transept of Cathedral in

1891, figures of founders and patrons of the Cathedral and

1891 figure of Queen Victoria. Rear staircase has simple

turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail.

c1710 cells to rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed

entrances with original doors and shuttered and barred

windows, benches and latrines; outer entrance and mullioned

window now in later infill wing.

HISTORY: The hall was used by the Guild of St Mary and St John

the Baptist until its dissolution, and by the Corporation from

1548.

Listing NGR: SK1179609481

The interior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

stained glass window

Found image. I wonder if anyone can identify this place. At first I thought this was the corner of a churchyard with old headstones acting as a wall but then I realised these are cast iron firebacks of a very elaborate design which must be identifiable.

The interior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Plant Hunters Room

suitcase

I have finally got around to having a look around at the museum at St Mary's in the Market Square in Lichfield. It was formerly called the Lichfield Heritage Centre.

Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos of the museum exhibits, so instead took some elements of the former church.

I later paid £3 to go on a Spire Climb, with nice views of the City of Lichfield (which made up for not getting photos of the museum exhibits).

The museum is up some stairs on a floor erected when the museum moved in here.

I decided to go on the Spire Climb. A nice lady who worked there, took me up (she was the guide). I was a bit nervous going up all those stairs (had to leave my bag in a cupboard).

Views of distant buildings in Lichfield.

Current home of Lichfield Library, although they maybe moving in the future.

Staffordshire County Council building for Lichfield College and Library Services.

It includes Lichfield Library, Lichfield Record Office, The Friary Gallery, Library, Art & Archives Committee, Education Committee and Lichfield College.

Scaffolding on the end near St John Street.

Grade II listed.

Lichfield College and Lichfield Library, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE THE FRIARY

1094-1/8/232 (South side)

05/02/52 Lichfield College and Lichfield

Library

(Formerly Listed as:

BIRMINGHAM ROAD

Lichfield Friary Grammar School for

Girls)

GV II

Part of Franciscan Friary, converted to house and then to

school. c1295, altered and extended to north, 1538, for

Gregory Stonynge; extended, 1921-8, by GC Lowbridge, County

Architect.

Ashlar and brick; tile roofs with brick stacks.

T-plan with end cross-wings, original building forming end and

cross-wing of arm to right.

Original building, known as the Bishop's Lodging, forms L-plan

with short wing. Mostly ashlar with some brick.

North wing: 2 storeys with attic; 3-window left return range.

2 offset ashlar and brick buttresses; 3 coped gables. Pointed

entrance to right end has single-chamfered arch. Tall stair

window to left end has leaded glazing, 3-light ovolo-mullioned

window to left; 1st floor has 2 mullioned and transomed

windows of 3 lights; attic has casement windows with iron

opening casements. Two C20 lateral stacks.

End has early brickwork with offset below timber-framed gable

with ogee bracing and brick infill, ashlar angle to right with

return raking buttress; small window high up to right projects

and has leaded glazing, gable has slanting window.

Right return has gabled wing to right of centre and right end

gable. Left end of ashlar with some brick; ground floor has

2-light casement and pegged cross casement both with timber

lintels and leaded glazing; 1st floor has 3 windows with

12-pane sashes.

Wing has much ashlar and brick patching, raised eaves and

diagonal buttresses; 2 windows to ground floor, one to 1st

floor, all with 12-pane sashes, attic has small-paned

casement; left return has blocked 1st floor round-headed light

with spandrels, and lateral stack; right return has large

brick section and eaves, 1st floor door to fire-escape with

rubbed brick flat arch, and lateral stack. Gabled right end

has signs of blocked openings and brick gable and angle

buttress; 1st floor door.

Rear elevation, south wing, of 2 storeys; 5-window range with

central 2-storey porch with chamfered angles and parapet; 3

offset buttresses.

Recessed entrance has steps up to recessed glazed and

fielded-panelled door. Windows have paired 18-pane horned

sashes, those to 1st floor with cornices and parapets, left

end window with inserted half-glazed door; window to right of

entrance has ex-situ gravestone of C14 or earlier below:

calvary cross fleury and worn inscription to Richard the

Merchant, found in 1746.

C20 range of brick with ashlar dressings. 2 storeys; gabled

centre with flanking 6- and 3-window ranges and wing to left

end. 3-light ovolo-mullioned-and-transomed windows; coped

gables. Centre has gabled buttresses and entrance with Tudor

head in architrave with label mould; flanking windows with

cornice above taken round base of canted oriel with vine and

grapes to base, 1:2:1-light window, flanking 3-light windows

and light above.

Range to right to front of old range; gabled centre has 1st

floor oriel. Range to left is symmetrical with 2 gabled

projections with oriels. Wing has gabled buttresses;

2:3:2-light windows and cusped panelling between floors;

7-window left return. Rear has hall wing with tall windows

with small-paned glazing and tall lateral stack; later

additions.

INTERIOR: old part has brick-vaulted cellars with ashlar

benches and shelves; C20 paired sashes to corridors and

staircase; ground floor room to wing has chamfered beams,

square panelling, corner fireplace with pilasters, frieze and

dentilled cornice; niche with shaped shelves and architrave;

attic with exposed trusses, north wing with curved principals.

C20 part has ex-situ C16 fireplace from panelled room, ashlar

with Tudor arch and lettering: GREGORY STONYNG to spandrels,

Delft tiles and cast iron fireback; late C20 alterations.

During the C18 the house was the home of Mrs Cobb and her

niece, friends of Dr Johnson, who often visited them.

(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Staffordshire: London:

1974-: P.191-2; Mullins H: History of the Friary School:

Lichfield).

Listing NGR: SK1161509321

In Rutland Square in Bakewell.

Rutland Arms Hotel - between King Street and North Church Street (also beyond is Buxton Road).

Grade II listed.

Rutland Arms Hotel, Bakewell

BAKEWELL

SK2168 RUTLAND SQUARE

831-1/4/153 (South West side)

13/03/51 Rutland Arms Hotel

GV II

Hotel. 1804 with later additions and alterations.

Deeply-coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings; Welsh slate

roof.

EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, 5 plus one-window range to Rutland

Square; 4-window range to King Street on left return; later

single-storey, 3-window range side wing set back on right.

Large quoins; first-floor band; projecting stone sills and

grooved wedge lintels to 8/12 sashes on ground and first

floors; 8/8 sashes to second floor. Main 5-window range part:

painted central porch with Doric columns and entablature

surmounted by arms of the Duke of Rutland; glazed door and

fanlight with radial glazing bars. Moulded eaves cornice to

hipped roof with various corniced ashlar stacks set to rear.

Single-bay wing, set back on right, is in same style with

hipped right end to the roof with corniced stack.

Later wing set further back on right has three 6/6 sashes and

hipped roof.

INTERIOR: staircase with 3 slats to each tread, wreathed and

ramped handrail without newels. Restaurant to rear left has

cast-iron grate with side hobs, consoles and relief-scrollwork

fireback in marble surround with colonnettes. Similar grate

with wooden surround in front-left lounge.

HISTORY: built on the site of the former White Horse Inn. Jane

Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice in 1797 but revised the

manuscript in this building in 1811; in it Bakewell is

referred to as Lambton.

Bakewell Pudding originated here under the proprietorship of

Mrs Greaves, sister-in-law to Sir Joseph Paxton.

Listing NGR: SK2173268477

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Source: English Heritage

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.

Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens

The name Leonardslee derives from the lea or valley of St Leonard's Forest, one of the ancient forests of the High Weald. In the Middle Ages the soil was too acidic for agriculture and so it remained as a natural woodland with wild animals and deer for the chase. There was extensive felling of the forest trees in the 16th and 17th centuries when the Weald became the centre of England's iron industry, producing cannon and cannonballs, firebacks, hinges, horseshoes and nails.

Most of the forest trees were felled for charcoal, which was used to reduce the ore and to generate heat to smelt it. The valley streams were dammed to provide a head of water that powered, via a water wheel, bellows that blasted air into the furnace, which was called Gosden furnace. A string of ponds was therefore created through a series of dams in the long, steep-sided valley to act as reservoirs; these would be drained as necessary to keep the flow of water going over the wheel. With the demise of the Wealden iron industry in the 17th century Gosden furnace was silenced, leaving behind the ponds, which later became a picturesque feature of the gardens, and allowing the woodlands to regenerate.

(Wikipedia)

(lophura diardi) The Siamese Fireback is distributed to the lowland and evergreen forests of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia. This species is also designated as the national bird of Thailand.

Aesthetic masterpiece!

Lophura ignita macartneyi

Taken at Weltvogelpark Walsrode, Germany

3.9.13

The Guildhall in Lichfield has been part of Lichfield's City government for 600 years. In forme times it had been a meeting place of the Corporation, but also at various times a court, a prison, police station, theatre and fire station.

The Guildhall takes its name from the ancient Guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist. The first Guildhall may have been on this site in 1387, when Richard II had confirmed the incorporation of the Guild, even though it had existed for many years.

The old prison had existed round the back since 1553.

Major rebuilding took place in 1707 and 1741, but the building was so ruinous it could of fell down.

By 1844 the Conduit Lands Trust promised to put the Guildhall right "once and for all".

In 1846 a gothic frontage was built, with the stained glass window transfered from Lichfield Cathedral in 1891.

These day the Guildhall is used for civic events and Council meetings.

The Guildhall, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BORE STREET

1094-1/8/62 (South East side)

06/03/70 The Guildhall

GV II

Guildhall. Parts probably C16 or C17 but extensively rebuilt

c1707 and extended to rear 1742; early C19 alterations; hall

rebuilt 1846-8, by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. Brick with

ashlar facade; brick rear wing; tile roofs. Right-angle plan

with earlier rear wing.

EXTERIOR: Hall in Gothic style: 2 storeys. Offset plinth,

cornice over ground floor; 1st floor offset buttresses and

sill course, coped gable. 2 pointed-arch entrances, that to

left has triple-chamfered continuous moulding and hood to

heavy door with strap hinges; that to right has hood and

paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. 1st

floor window has 5-light plate tracery with hood and relief

flower motifs, plain blind roundel above. Stair wing to left

has offset ground floor and coped parapet; 1st floor has

2-light single-chamfered plate tracery window. Plaque below

window commemorates Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra and

is flanked by their busts. Returns have 2-light 1st floor

windows with ashlar plate tracery.

Rear wing of various dates, part to rear with rubble base and

early brickwork over, incorporating blocked C16 window of 3

triangular-headed lights with brick mullions; C18 and C19

brickwork above; varied fenestration; left return has 3 sashed

windows to 1st floor.

INTERIOR: Passage with iron grille with gate and cells to

left; hall has hammerbeam roof and panelling; arch to south

has glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches

used by quarter sessions; fireplace has segmental-pointed arch

and C16 cast-iron fireback with Royal arms; 1811 stained glass

to north window taken from north transept of Cathedral in

1891, figures of founders and patrons of the Cathedral and

1891 figure of Queen Victoria. Rear staircase has simple

turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail.

c1710 cells to rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed

entrances with original doors and shuttered and barred

windows, benches and latrines; outer entrance and mullioned

window now in later infill wing.

HISTORY: The hall was used by the Guild of St Mary and St John

the Baptist until its dissolution, and by the Corporation from

1548.

Listing NGR: SK1179609481

Plaque about the Guildhall.

Early morning

Near Jahoo Camp, Keo Siema Wildlife Sanctuary, Cambodia

On a birding trip that my wife and I took to Cambodia in early 2023

The Guildhall in Lichfield has been part of Lichfield's City government for 600 years. In forme times it had been a meeting place of the Corporation, but also at various times a court, a prison, police station, theatre and fire station.

The Guildhall takes its name from the ancient Guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist. The first Guildhall may have been on this site in 1387, when Richard II had confirmed the incorporation of the Guild, even though it had existed for many years.

The old prison had existed round the back since 1553.

Major rebuilding took place in 1707 and 1741, but the building was so ruinous it could of fell down.

By 1844 the Conduit Lands Trust promised to put the Guildhall right "once and for all".

In 1846 a gothic frontage was built, with the stained glass window transfered from Lichfield Cathedral in 1891.

These day the Guildhall is used for civic events and Council meetings.

The Guildhall, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BORE STREET

1094-1/8/62 (South East side)

06/03/70 The Guildhall

GV II

Guildhall. Parts probably C16 or C17 but extensively rebuilt

c1707 and extended to rear 1742; early C19 alterations; hall

rebuilt 1846-8, by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. Brick with

ashlar facade; brick rear wing; tile roofs. Right-angle plan

with earlier rear wing.

EXTERIOR: Hall in Gothic style: 2 storeys. Offset plinth,

cornice over ground floor; 1st floor offset buttresses and

sill course, coped gable. 2 pointed-arch entrances, that to

left has triple-chamfered continuous moulding and hood to

heavy door with strap hinges; that to right has hood and

paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. 1st

floor window has 5-light plate tracery with hood and relief

flower motifs, plain blind roundel above. Stair wing to left

has offset ground floor and coped parapet; 1st floor has

2-light single-chamfered plate tracery window. Plaque below

window commemorates Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra and

is flanked by their busts. Returns have 2-light 1st floor

windows with ashlar plate tracery.

Rear wing of various dates, part to rear with rubble base and

early brickwork over, incorporating blocked C16 window of 3

triangular-headed lights with brick mullions; C18 and C19

brickwork above; varied fenestration; left return has 3 sashed

windows to 1st floor.

INTERIOR: Passage with iron grille with gate and cells to

left; hall has hammerbeam roof and panelling; arch to south

has glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches

used by quarter sessions; fireplace has segmental-pointed arch

and C16 cast-iron fireback with Royal arms; 1811 stained glass

to north window taken from north transept of Cathedral in

1891, figures of founders and patrons of the Cathedral and

1891 figure of Queen Victoria. Rear staircase has simple

turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail.

c1710 cells to rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed

entrances with original doors and shuttered and barred

windows, benches and latrines; outer entrance and mullioned

window now in later infill wing.

HISTORY: The hall was used by the Guild of St Mary and St John

the Baptist until its dissolution, and by the Corporation from

1548.

Listing NGR: SK1179609481

The Guildhall in Lichfield has been part of Lichfield's City government for 600 years. In forme times it had been a meeting place of the Corporation, but also at various times a court, a prison, police station, theatre and fire station.

The Guildhall takes its name from the ancient Guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist. The first Guildhall may have been on this site in 1387, when Richard II had confirmed the incorporation of the Guild, even though it had existed for many years.

The old prison had existed round the back since 1553.

Major rebuilding took place in 1707 and 1741, but the building was so ruinous it could of fell down.

By 1844 the Conduit Lands Trust promised to put the Guildhall right "once and for all".

In 1846 a gothic frontage was built, with the stained glass window transfered from Lichfield Cathedral in 1891.

These day the Guildhall is used for civic events and Council meetings.

The Guildhall, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BORE STREET

1094-1/8/62 (South East side)

06/03/70 The Guildhall

GV II

Guildhall. Parts probably C16 or C17 but extensively rebuilt

c1707 and extended to rear 1742; early C19 alterations; hall

rebuilt 1846-8, by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. Brick with

ashlar facade; brick rear wing; tile roofs. Right-angle plan

with earlier rear wing.

EXTERIOR: Hall in Gothic style: 2 storeys. Offset plinth,

cornice over ground floor; 1st floor offset buttresses and

sill course, coped gable. 2 pointed-arch entrances, that to

left has triple-chamfered continuous moulding and hood to

heavy door with strap hinges; that to right has hood and

paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. 1st

floor window has 5-light plate tracery with hood and relief

flower motifs, plain blind roundel above. Stair wing to left

has offset ground floor and coped parapet; 1st floor has

2-light single-chamfered plate tracery window. Plaque below

window commemorates Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra and

is flanked by their busts. Returns have 2-light 1st floor

windows with ashlar plate tracery.

Rear wing of various dates, part to rear with rubble base and

early brickwork over, incorporating blocked C16 window of 3

triangular-headed lights with brick mullions; C18 and C19

brickwork above; varied fenestration; left return has 3 sashed

windows to 1st floor.

INTERIOR: Passage with iron grille with gate and cells to

left; hall has hammerbeam roof and panelling; arch to south

has glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches

used by quarter sessions; fireplace has segmental-pointed arch

and C16 cast-iron fireback with Royal arms; 1811 stained glass

to north window taken from north transept of Cathedral in

1891, figures of founders and patrons of the Cathedral and

1891 figure of Queen Victoria. Rear staircase has simple

turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail.

c1710 cells to rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed

entrances with original doors and shuttered and barred

windows, benches and latrines; outer entrance and mullioned

window now in later infill wing.

HISTORY: The hall was used by the Guild of St Mary and St John

the Baptist until its dissolution, and by the Corporation from

1548.

Listing NGR: SK1179609481

Maker:

Born:

Active: UK

Medium: cdv back

Size: 2 1/4 in x 4 in

Location: France

Object No. 2022.202a

Shelf: E-19

Publication:

Other Collections:

Notes: William Alexander Archibald Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton and 8th Duke of Brandon (19 February 1811 – 8 July 1863) styled Earl of Angus before 1819 and Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale between 1819 and 1852, was a Scottish nobleman and the Premier Peer of Scotland. He was the son of Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton and Susan Euphemia Beckford, daughter of English novelist William Beckford. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He was Knight Marischal of Scotland from 1846 and Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire from 1852 until his death. Though he had married in 1843, the duke did not succeed to his title until 1852. In that year, he purchased the house located at 22 Arlington Street in St. James's, a district of the City of Westminster in central London from Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort for £60,000. The duke lavished expenses on the house for approximately a decade, including installing iron firebacks with his coronet and motto. Upon his death, the house passed to his widow who sold it to Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne via auction in 1867.

To view our archive organized by Collections, visit: OUR COLLECTIONS

For information about reproducing this image, visit: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE

This listing is for a Tapered Fireplace Furnace Grate Heater measuring 18" wide front, 14" wide back, 16 tall, 16 deep. This tapered trapezoidal shape better matches the shape of your fireplace, allowing more heat exchanger to snugly fit. It also fans out the hot air being blown into your room, for greater comfort. It works in masonry and zero-clearance fireplaces, as well as with gas logs or gas starters. It has 9.7 square feet of heat exchanger surface area. This Item fits within a cardboard box 18w 16t 16d fully assembled. You can use a cardboard box of this size to test the fit into your fireplace.

The most elegant, well crafted, customizable, and functional Heat Exchangers at the most reasonable cost. Turn your fireplace into a furnace with the ultimate blend of eye pleasing form with function. These high quality fireplace Grate Heat Exchangers are built to last.

When you use our Grate Heat Exchanger in an open fireplace, you will realize a saving on your heating costs and the amount of firewood. With one of these you can extract a larger percentage of the heat wasted and going up your chimney. Our Heat Exchangers are designed with the greatest surface area to capture and move into your home the highest percentage of the BTU heat generated by your fire.

Our volume of sales and positive feedback speaks for itself!

We have grates that have been in operation since 2000 and no customer has reported burn through.

All our products are made with fully welded uncoated non-galvanized structural grade industrial carbon steel, and UL certified electrical components.

We use 100% renewable wind and hydro electricity in our shop, and when possible, we use re-purposed and recycled steel.

Here is how it works:

Our all steel design uses several perfectly sized heavy duty thick wall tubes for maximum heat exchanger surface area, superior airflow volume, minimum burn through, and maximum combustion area volume. The tubes are welded together forming a channel that is filled with cool home air. The tubes then heat the air as it passes through them. Hot air is then blown back into the your home with velocity. This adds conduction from the hot coal coals and convection from the flame, heating to the radiant heat of a fireplace, recovering otherwise lost energy or BTU from the embers and flame of your fire.

The AC fans plug into a standard 110 VAC wall outlet (DC optional for solar panel, wind, solar cell, photo voltaic cell off grid or grid tie applications), they are quiet running at a measured 50 db or less decibels, and rated at 100 CFM each. With the option of a variable speed fan control when mood is more important than heat output you can reduce the background hum of our heat exchangers in operation for the perfect ambiance.

Customers have observed how the warmth generated by these Heat Exchangers can circulate to the adjoining rooms in your home. A customer sent us many thanks when our grate prevented the freezing of his pipes in -20 weather when his natural gas furnace broke and the part was over a week away. This serves to increase the comfort of your entire home, conserve the amount of wood you burn, and nearly eliminate the need for other expensive methods of climate control such as electric heaters, heat pumps, corn or pellet stoves, and central air oil or gas furnaces.

Production time? We normally keep these standard sizes in stock and ready for immediate shipping.

First in line is first in time, the sooner you order your Fireplace Grate Heater, the sooner you can start saving on the heating bill!

Lichfield's Guildhall with images of King George V and Queen Mary

This one is Queen Mary - consort of George V.

The Guildhall, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BORE STREET

1094-1/8/62 (South East side)

06/03/70 The Guildhall

GV II

Guildhall. Parts probably C16 or C17 but extensively rebuilt

c1707 and extended to rear 1742; early C19 alterations; hall

rebuilt 1846-8, by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. Brick with

ashlar facade; brick rear wing; tile roofs. Right-angle plan

with earlier rear wing.

EXTERIOR: Hall in Gothic style: 2 storeys. Offset plinth,

cornice over ground floor; 1st floor offset buttresses and

sill course, coped gable. 2 pointed-arch entrances, that to

left has triple-chamfered continuous moulding and hood to

heavy door with strap hinges; that to right has hood and

paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. 1st

floor window has 5-light plate tracery with hood and relief

flower motifs, plain blind roundel above. Stair wing to left

has offset ground floor and coped parapet; 1st floor has

2-light single-chamfered plate tracery window. Plaque below

window commemorates Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra and

is flanked by their busts. Returns have 2-light 1st floor

windows with ashlar plate tracery.

Rear wing of various dates, part to rear with rubble base and

early brickwork over, incorporating blocked C16 window of 3

triangular-headed lights with brick mullions; C18 and C19

brickwork above; varied fenestration; left return has 3 sashed

windows to 1st floor.

INTERIOR: Passage with iron grille with gate and cells to

left; hall has hammerbeam roof and panelling; arch to south

has glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches

used by quarter sessions; fireplace has segmental-pointed arch

and C16 cast-iron fireback with Royal arms; 1811 stained glass

to north window taken from north transept of Cathedral in

1891, figures of founders and patrons of the Cathedral and

1891 figure of Queen Victoria. Rear staircase has simple

turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail.

c1710 cells to rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed

entrances with original doors and shuttered and barred

windows, benches and latrines; outer entrance and mullioned

window now in later infill wing.

HISTORY: The hall was used by the Guild of St Mary and St John

the Baptist until its dissolution, and by the Corporation from

1548.

Listing NGR: SK1179609481

A monograph of the pheasants

London, England :Published under the auspices of the New York Zoological Society by Witherby & Co.,1918-1922.

biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34630844

(lophura diardi) The Siamese Fireback is distributed to the lowland and evergreen forests of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia. This species is also designated as the national bird of Thailand.

Lichfield's Guildhall with images of King George V and Queen Mary

This one is George V

The Guildhall, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BORE STREET

1094-1/8/62 (South East side)

06/03/70 The Guildhall

GV II

Guildhall. Parts probably C16 or C17 but extensively rebuilt

c1707 and extended to rear 1742; early C19 alterations; hall

rebuilt 1846-8, by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. Brick with

ashlar facade; brick rear wing; tile roofs. Right-angle plan

with earlier rear wing.

EXTERIOR: Hall in Gothic style: 2 storeys. Offset plinth,

cornice over ground floor; 1st floor offset buttresses and

sill course, coped gable. 2 pointed-arch entrances, that to

left has triple-chamfered continuous moulding and hood to

heavy door with strap hinges; that to right has hood and

paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. 1st

floor window has 5-light plate tracery with hood and relief

flower motifs, plain blind roundel above. Stair wing to left

has offset ground floor and coped parapet; 1st floor has

2-light single-chamfered plate tracery window. Plaque below

window commemorates Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra and

is flanked by their busts. Returns have 2-light 1st floor

windows with ashlar plate tracery.

Rear wing of various dates, part to rear with rubble base and

early brickwork over, incorporating blocked C16 window of 3

triangular-headed lights with brick mullions; C18 and C19

brickwork above; varied fenestration; left return has 3 sashed

windows to 1st floor.

INTERIOR: Passage with iron grille with gate and cells to

left; hall has hammerbeam roof and panelling; arch to south

has glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches

used by quarter sessions; fireplace has segmental-pointed arch

and C16 cast-iron fireback with Royal arms; 1811 stained glass

to north window taken from north transept of Cathedral in

1891, figures of founders and patrons of the Cathedral and

1891 figure of Queen Victoria. Rear staircase has simple

turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail.

c1710 cells to rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed

entrances with original doors and shuttered and barred

windows, benches and latrines; outer entrance and mullioned

window now in later infill wing.

HISTORY: The hall was used by the Guild of St Mary and St John

the Baptist until its dissolution, and by the Corporation from

1548.

Listing NGR: SK1179609481

The interior of Dyffryn House at Dyffryn Gardens.

It is in Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. Not too far from Cardiff. The gardens are owned by the National Trust. There is also a house on the site, that is undergoing refurbishment, it opens at midday (the parts that are open though).

Dyffryn House was first home to Admiral Sir Thomas Button in the 16th century. Then in the 18th century the Pryce family took ownership. The last family to live in the house was the Cory family from the late 19th century.

Bought by John Cory the house you see today is mostly his remodelling. John's only daughter Florence was the last of the family to live here, passing away in 1937.

The estate was bought by Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local land lower. This is when it began it's life as a training centre and then a conference centre.

The conference centre closed in 1998. For a brief period the house as due to become a hotel. Much of the damage was caused by this plan.

In 2013, 17 years after doors closed, the National Trust has reopened the house to keep the story going.

The house is Grade II* listed.

Dyffryn House, Wenvoe

Interior

Lavish interiors the main rooms of which are designed in a wide variety of styles in a manner often favoured by wealthy C19 owners. Some of the chimneypieces are said to have been brought from other houses. The single most important room is the Great Hall which echoes those of major C16 country houses (eg Hampton Court and Burghley) with its full height, mock hammerbeam roof and large end window. The walls are enriched with two tiers of pilasters carrying friezes, a dentilled cornice to top and corbelled round arches with gilded keystones below over a panelled dado. 5-bay implied double-hammerbeam roof which is herringbone-boarded. Grand timber chimneypiece with massive cornice carried by full height terms; stone fireplace surround and overmantel with Ionic columns flanking coat of arms. Enormous window to N end with coloured glass depicting Queen Elizabeth I; round-arched doorway below with double doors and marble columns. Splayed dais recess to W wall with coffered ceiling. At S end the minstrels gallery is carried on curved brackets and spans an open passage leading from the staircase hall giving access to the Great Hall and neighbouring rooms, the doorways to which are surmounted by large plaster relief 'tondi'. To the E of the Great Hall is the Billiard Room which has a dado, with integral bench seating, below a deep band of carved panelling in an exceptionally florid Renaissance manner; similar frieze and chimneypiece and a deeply panelled ceiling with ceiling bosses. The Orchid room to S has painted ceiling, Ionic columns and gilded surrounds to wall panelling. Immediately next door is the Rose Room which is in a broadly C18 French style (see especially the delicately painted ceiling with corner roundels and the gilded festoons to the beaded surrounds of the wall panelling). The fine marble chimneypiece however is more ca.1600 in style with tapered figural pilasters, Smythson-like bosses and strapwork surrounding an equestrian figure with a French inscription: "Dieu Benit La Zouche de Courson". To the W is the Tulip Room (now Dining room) with ribbed ceiling including Gothic foliate bosses; bowed W end backs onto the Bar while the N wall backs onto the wainscotted Staircase Hall which at its E end has wall-arcading in a similar manner to that of the Great Hall. Broad stairs with long flights; shaped tread ends and panelled newels with finials. 1st floor landing has paired marble columns and beyond that the stairs continue in a similar manner to 2nd floor. The Oak room opens off the Staircase Hall. This was formerly the dining room and has a panelled ceiling, wainscotting and mullioned and transomed windows all in a Tudor/Elizabethan manner; similar style inglenook-like fireplace with oval smoke window. The two remaining public rooms to W are the Bar and Lounge for the conference centre. The former has lightly ribbed ceiling but luxuriantly foliage encrusted marble chimneypiece in an C18 manner and reuses a remarkable French style 7-double branch chandelier; modern panelling. The lounge has unusual plaster ceiling with broad ribs and thistle, rose and daffodil ornament to square, diamond and lozenge shaped panels. Fine French chateau style marble chimneypiece with putti flanking round-arched fireplace containing Fleur-de-lis fireback.

Staircase