Portal:Cheshire/Selected article/5

Churche's Mansion is a grade-I-listed timber-framed, black-and-white Elizabethan mansion house on Hospital Street in Nantwich. Dating from 1577, it is one of the very few buildings to have survived the Great Fire of 1583. Pevsner considered it one of the finest buildings of its type in Cheshire, describing it as "an outstanding piece of decorated half-timber architecture."

Built for wealthy Nantwich merchant Richard Churche and his wife by local craftsman Thomas Clease, it remained in their family until the 20th century. In 1930, it was rescued from being shipped to the USA by Edgar Myott and his wife, who began restoration work.

The upper storey and the attics overhang with jetties and feature decorative panels. The many gilded carvings include portraits of the Churches. Some of the interior oak panelling is Elizabethan in date. The mansion has been used as a dwelling, school, restaurant, shop, and granary and hay store.

Suggest • Archive