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Chantry House, Bunbury

January 01, 1970

The Chantry House, also known as the Chantry Priests' (or Priest's) House and formerly the Old School House, is a medieval half-timbered or "black-and-white" house, dating from around 1527,[nb 1] in Bunbury, Cheshire, England. It was originally associated with the chantry chapel in the nearby parish church of St Boniface, founded by Sir Ralph Egerton. After the chantry's dissolution, it became associated with Thomas Aldersey's grammar school. The Chantry House is an early surviving example of a residential timber-framed building in Cheshire, with many typically medieval features. It is listed at grade II* for "the quality of framing throughout."[1]

The Chantry House
Gable end of the Chantry House, Bunbury
General information
Architectural styleMedieval, Timber-framed
LocationWyche Road, Bunbury, Cheshire, England
Height
RoofSlate
Technical details
Structural systemTimber framing
Floor countTwo
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameThe Chantry House
Designated12 January 1967
Reference no.1138635[1]

History edit

 
Thomas Aldersey, by Robert Peake the Elder (1588)

Sir Ralph Egerton (also Raufe or Rafe; before 1476–1528) – standard bearer to Henry VIII, who awarded him the nearby manor of Ridley – commissioned a chantry chapel to be added to St Boniface's Church in Bunbury. The chantry (known as the Ridley Chapel) was begun by 1527, but remained incomplete at Egerton's death in 1528, and was finished under the provisions of his will.[2][3][4][5] The Chantry House was built at the same time to house two chantry priests,[2][3][5] who were "to pray for his Soul, his Father and Mother's Soul, with all other Souls of his kin, and all Christian Souls forever."[6] According to Egerton's will, the Chantry House was to be constructed with stone and roofed in Welsh slate, and was to have two rooms, a parlour and a buttery–kitchen. The chantry was endowed with mills at Nantwich and a salt house.[6][7] After Edward VI dissolved the chantries in 1547,[8] the Chantry House was granted by the crown to Thomas Bromley of Nantwich in 1549.[9] The chantry's value at the time of its dissolution was estimated to be £12 2 shillings.[3]

The property was subsequently acquired by Thomas Aldersey (1521/2–98), a successful London merchant and haberdasher who had been born and educated in Bunbury, possibly at the Chantry House, and whose family had a house in the adjacent parish of Spurstow.[5][10] In 1575 he founded a school in Bunbury, which was incorporated as a free grammar school on 2 January 1594, under the name "The Free Grammar School of Thomas Aldersey in Bunbury".[5][8][10][11] Aldersey gave the grammar school to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, of which he was a prominent member.[3][5][10] It was the first school that the Company of Haberdashers administered.[10][12] Among the school's endowments was the 2000-year lease to its governors, dated 31 March 1595, of the Chantry House, together with other land and properties in Bunbury, for "the rent of a red rose".[11][13][14] The school either used the Chantry House as its school house[3] or was built adjacent to it,[5][15] with the Chantry House being used as the schoolmaster's house and to house boarders.[5][13]

The grammar school moved to a new building on School Lane in 1874, and is now Bunbury Aldersey School.[3][5][16] The Chantry House was restored and extended in the 1970s by Cecil F. Wright.[2][17] It is now a private residence.[1][3][5]

Description edit

The Chantry House is located at SJ5683757958 on Wyche Road in Bunbury, Cheshire, immediately south of St Boniface's Church. It is listed at grade II*,[1] a grade which recognises "particularly important buildings of more than special interest."[18] It was formerly known as the Old School House.[17] Earthworks, possibly representing foundations of formerly associated buildings, lie to the east of the existing building.[3] The original three-bay, two-storey, timber-framed house rests on a sandstone plinth, with a slate roof.[2] The introduction of an upper storey is a late-medieval feature in Cheshire buildings.[19] The windows are not original; they have mullions and transoms, and contain leaded glass. An additional wing to the south was added in the 1970s.[1][2]

The timber frame is close studded, with the vertical timbers placed particularly close together. The east face has a jettied gable.[1][2] The intervening panels are plastered.Horizontal rails are absent from the exterior frame, except as needed to frame windows. This is typical of medieval timber framing. Unusually, two different types of bracing are present. Curved tension braces, starting from the horizontal ground sill, are found on the ground floor; these are rare in Cheshire, being more commonly found in south-east England.[20] The first floor features arch braces, which start from vertical timbers and go up to meet the wall plate; these are typical of the Midlands variety of timber framing. Both forms of brace are large.[1][21] In later close-studded or decorative-framed buildings these braces were typically concealed or omitted.[21]

The Chantry House is an early surviving example of a residential timber-framed building in Cheshire.[21] Its framing is similar to that of Gawsworth Old Rectory, a 15th-century Cheshire house also built to accommodate a priest, which combines close studding with arch bracing, but lacks the Chantry House's tension braces. Both Cheshire buildings include more horizontal timbers than comparable buildings in the south east, such as the Guildhall and Wool Hall of Lavenham, Suffolk, which Cheshire buildings expert Laurie McKenna considers might indicate the beginning of the development of a distinct Midlands style of timber framing.[21]

The timber frame to the interior includes a horizontal middle rail. The beams are deeply bevelled and the bevelled joists resemble planks, both features typical of medieval timbering.[19] There are four Tudor-arched fireplaces in stone, surmounted by very large lintels.[2] On the first floor, part of the original oak panelling has survived, and includes internal doors, one of which has retained its original hinges.[1]

See also edit

Notes and references edit

Notes

  1. ^ The date is generally given as 1527,[1][2][3] but might be slightly later.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Historic England. "The Chantry House (Grade II*) (1138635)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Hartwell et al. 2011, pp. 191–95
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devine, Vince; Clark, Jo (2003), Cheshire Historic Towns Survey: Bunbury: Archaeological Assessment (PDF), Cheshire County Council and English Heritage, retrieved 25 September 2016
  4. ^ Ives, E. W. (May 2007), "Egerton, Sir Ralph (b. before 1476, d. 1528", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cheshire Federation of Women's Institutes 1990, pp. 44–45
  6. ^ a b Collins 1741, pp. 596–97
  7. ^ Crossley, Fred H. (1949), Ridgway, Maurice H. (ed.), "An Introduction to the Fabric of Bunbury Church", The Bunbury Papers, St Boniface's Church, retrieved 25 September 2016
  8. ^ a b Beck 1969, pp. 22, 105
  9. ^ Hall, p. 51
  10. ^ a b c d Baldwin, R. C. D. (January 2008), "Aldersey, Thomas (1521/2–1598)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b "City of London Livery Companies Commission, 'Report on the Charities of the Haberdashers' Company: Part I'", City of London Livery Companies Commission. Report; Volume 4, British History Online, pp. 420–56, 1884, retrieved 25 September 2016
  12. ^ , The Haberdashers' Livery Company, archived from the original on 18 October 2016, retrieved 26 September 2016
  13. ^ a b His Majesty's Commissioners on Charitable Foundations 1828, pp. 47–48
  14. ^ Mills 1998, p. 186
  15. ^ Bunbury Neighbourhood Plan (PDF), Bunbury Parish Council, 2015, p. 5, retrieved 25 September 2016
  16. ^ Historic England. "Bunbury Aldersey School (Grade II) (1136159)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  17. ^ a b Pevsner & Hubbard 1971, p. 121
  18. ^ Listed Buildings, Historic England, retrieved 24 September 2016
  19. ^ a b McKenna 1994, pp. 9, 11
  20. ^ McKenna 1994, pp. 7, 15
  21. ^ a b c d McKenna 1994, pp. 6–7, 16–17

Sources

  • Joan Beck. Tudor Cheshire, A History of Cheshire Vol. 7 (J. J. Bagley, ed.) (The Cheshire Community Council; 1969)
  • Cheshire Federation of Women's Institutes. The Cheshire Village Book (Countryside Books and CFWI; 1990) (ISBN 1-85306-075-5)
  • Arthur Collins. The Peerage of England (W. Strahan, J. F and C. Rivington; 1741)
  • James Hall. A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich-Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester (1883)
  • Clare Hartwell, Matthew Hyde, Edward Hubbard, Nikolaus Pevsner. The Buildings of England: Cheshire (Yale University Press; 2011) (ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6)
  • His Majesty's Commissioners on Charitable Foundations. An Account of Public Charities in England and Wales (W. Simpkin and R. Marshall; 1828)
  • Laurie McKenna. Timber Framed Buildings in Cheshire (Cheshire County Council; 1994) (ISBN 0-906765-16-1)
  • David Mills. Recycling the Cycle: The City of Chester and Its Whitsun Plays (University of Toronto Press; 1998) (ISBN 0802040969)
  • Nikolaus Pevsner, Edward Hubbard. The Buildings of England: Cheshire (Penguin Books; 1971) (ISBN 0 14 0710 42 6)

53°07′01″N 2°38′47″W / 53.11703°N 2.64637°W / 53.11703; -2.64637

January 01, 1970
chantry, house, bunbury, chantry, house, also, known, chantry, priests, priest, house, formerly, school, house, medieval, half, timbered, black, white, house, dating, from, around, 1527, bunbury, cheshire, england, originally, associated, with, chantry, chapel. The Chantry House also known as the Chantry Priests or Priest s House and formerly the Old School House is a medieval half timbered or black and white house dating from around 1527 nb 1 in Bunbury Cheshire England It was originally associated with the chantry chapel in the nearby parish church of St Boniface founded by Sir Ralph Egerton After the chantry s dissolution it became associated with Thomas Aldersey s grammar school The Chantry House is an early surviving example of a residential timber framed building in Cheshire with many typically medieval features It is listed at grade II for the quality of framing throughout 1 The Chantry HouseGable end of the Chantry House BunburyGeneral informationArchitectural styleMedieval Timber framedLocationWyche Road Bunbury Cheshire EnglandHeightRoofSlateTechnical detailsStructural systemTimber framingFloor countTwoListed Building Grade II Official nameThe Chantry HouseDesignated12 January 1967Reference no 1138635 1 Contents 1 History 2 Description 3 See also 4 Notes and referencesHistory edit nbsp Thomas Aldersey by Robert Peake the Elder 1588 Sir Ralph Egerton also Raufe or Rafe before 1476 1528 standard bearer to Henry VIII who awarded him the nearby manor of Ridley commissioned a chantry chapel to be added to St Boniface s Church in Bunbury The chantry known as the Ridley Chapel was begun by 1527 but remained incomplete at Egerton s death in 1528 and was finished under the provisions of his will 2 3 4 5 The Chantry House was built at the same time to house two chantry priests 2 3 5 who were to pray for his Soul his Father and Mother s Soul with all other Souls of his kin and all Christian Souls forever 6 According to Egerton s will the Chantry House was to be constructed with stone and roofed in Welsh slate and was to have two rooms a parlour and a buttery kitchen The chantry was endowed with mills at Nantwich and a salt house 6 7 After Edward VI dissolved the chantries in 1547 8 the Chantry House was granted by the crown to Thomas Bromley of Nantwich in 1549 9 The chantry s value at the time of its dissolution was estimated to be 12 2 shillings 3 The property was subsequently acquired by Thomas Aldersey 1521 2 98 a successful London merchant and haberdasher who had been born and educated in Bunbury possibly at the Chantry House and whose family had a house in the adjacent parish of Spurstow 5 10 In 1575 he founded a school in Bunbury which was incorporated as a free grammar school on 2 January 1594 under the name The Free Grammar School of Thomas Aldersey in Bunbury 5 8 10 11 Aldersey gave the grammar school to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers of which he was a prominent member 3 5 10 It was the first school that the Company of Haberdashers administered 10 12 Among the school s endowments was the 2000 year lease to its governors dated 31 March 1595 of the Chantry House together with other land and properties in Bunbury for the rent of a red rose 11 13 14 The school either used the Chantry House as its school house 3 or was built adjacent to it 5 15 with the Chantry House being used as the schoolmaster s house and to house boarders 5 13 The grammar school moved to a new building on School Lane in 1874 and is now Bunbury Aldersey School 3 5 16 The Chantry House was restored and extended in the 1970s by Cecil F Wright 2 17 It is now a private residence 1 3 5 Description editThe Chantry House is located at SJ5683757958 on Wyche Road in Bunbury Cheshire immediately south of St Boniface s Church It is listed at grade II 1 a grade which recognises particularly important buildings of more than special interest 18 It was formerly known as the Old School House 17 Earthworks possibly representing foundations of formerly associated buildings lie to the east of the existing building 3 The original three bay two storey timber framed house rests on a sandstone plinth with a slate roof 2 The introduction of an upper storey is a late medieval feature in Cheshire buildings 19 The windows are not original they have mullions and transoms and contain leaded glass An additional wing to the south was added in the 1970s 1 2 The timber frame is close studded with the vertical timbers placed particularly close together The east face has a jettied gable 1 2 The intervening panels are plastered Horizontal rails are absent from the exterior frame except as needed to frame windows This is typical of medieval timber framing Unusually two different types of bracing are present Curved tension braces starting from the horizontal ground sill are found on the ground floor these are rare in Cheshire being more commonly found in south east England 20 The first floor features arch braces which start from vertical timbers and go up to meet the wall plate these are typical of the Midlands variety of timber framing Both forms of brace are large 1 21 In later close studded or decorative framed buildings these braces were typically concealed or omitted 21 The Chantry House is an early surviving example of a residential timber framed building in Cheshire 21 Its framing is similar to that of Gawsworth Old Rectory a 15th century Cheshire house also built to accommodate a priest which combines close studding with arch bracing but lacks the Chantry House s tension braces Both Cheshire buildings include more horizontal timbers than comparable buildings in the south east such as the Guildhall and Wool Hall of Lavenham Suffolk which Cheshire buildings expert Laurie McKenna considers might indicate the beginning of the development of a distinct Midlands style of timber framing 21 The timber frame to the interior includes a horizontal middle rail The beams are deeply bevelled and the bevelled joists resemble planks both features typical of medieval timbering 19 There are four Tudor arched fireplaces in stone surmounted by very large lintels 2 On the first floor part of the original oak panelling has survived and includes internal doors one of which has retained its original hinges 1 See also edit nbsp Cheshire portal Listed buildings in Bunbury CheshireNotes and references editNotes The date is generally given as 1527 1 2 3 but might be slightly later References a b c d e f g h i Historic England The Chantry House Grade II 1138635 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 14 September 2023 a b c d e f g h Hartwell et al 2011 pp 191 95 a b c d e f g h i Devine Vince Clark Jo 2003 Cheshire Historic Towns Survey Bunbury Archaeological Assessment PDF Cheshire County Council and English Heritage retrieved 25 September 2016 Ives E W May 2007 Egerton Sir Ralph b before 1476 d 1528 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press a b c d e f g h i Cheshire Federation of Women s Institutes 1990 pp 44 45 a b Collins 1741 pp 596 97 Crossley Fred H 1949 Ridgway Maurice H ed An Introduction to the Fabric of Bunbury Church The Bunbury Papers St Boniface s Church retrieved 25 September 2016 a b Beck 1969 pp 22 105 Hall p 51 a b c d Baldwin R C D January 2008 Aldersey Thomas 1521 2 1598 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press a b City of London Livery Companies Commission Report on the Charities of the Haberdashers Company Part I City of London Livery Companies Commission Report Volume 4 British History Online pp 420 56 1884 retrieved 25 September 2016 Bunbury The Haberdashers Livery Company archived from the original on 18 October 2016 retrieved 26 September 2016 a b His Majesty s Commissioners on Charitable Foundations 1828 pp 47 48 Mills 1998 p 186 Bunbury Neighbourhood Plan PDF Bunbury Parish Council 2015 p 5 retrieved 25 September 2016 Historic England Bunbury Aldersey School Grade II 1136159 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 25 September 2016 a b Pevsner amp Hubbard 1971 p 121 Listed Buildings Historic England retrieved 24 September 2016 a b McKenna 1994 pp 9 11 McKenna 1994 pp 7 15 a b c d McKenna 1994 pp 6 7 16 17 Sources Joan Beck Tudor Cheshire A History of Cheshire Vol 7 J J Bagley ed The Cheshire Community Council 1969 Cheshire Federation of Women s Institutes The Cheshire Village Book Countryside Books and CFWI 1990 ISBN 1 85306 075 5 Arthur Collins The Peerage of England W Strahan J F and C Rivington 1741 James Hall A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich or Wich Malbank in the County Palatine of Chester 1883 Clare Hartwell Matthew Hyde Edward Hubbard Nikolaus Pevsner The Buildings of England Cheshire Yale University Press 2011 ISBN 978 0 300 17043 6 His Majesty s Commissioners on Charitable Foundations An Account of Public Charities in England and Wales W Simpkin and R Marshall 1828 Laurie McKenna Timber Framed Buildings in Cheshire Cheshire County Council 1994 ISBN 0 906765 16 1 David Mills Recycling the Cycle The City of Chester and Its Whitsun Plays University of Toronto Press 1998 ISBN 0802040969 Nikolaus Pevsner Edward Hubbard The Buildings of England Cheshire Penguin Books 1971 ISBN 0 14 0710 42 6 53 07 01 N 2 38 47 W 53 11703 N 2 64637 W 53 11703 2 64637 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Chantry House Bunbury amp oldid 1175765758, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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