11 Churchyard Side is a Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 bank in Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 style, in Nantwich

Nantwich

Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The town gives its name to the parliamentary constituency of Crewe and Nantwich...

, Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

, England. It stands on the town square, opposite the parish church

St Mary's Church, Nantwich

St Mary's Church, Nantwich, is in the centre of the market town of Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. It has been called the "Cathedral of South Cheshire" and it is considered by some to be one of the finest medieval...

 (at ). Dating from 1876, the bank was designed by local architect Thomas Bower

Thomas Bower

Thomas Bower was an English architect and surveyor based in Nantwich, Cheshire. He worked in partnership with Ernest H. Edleston at the Nantwich firm, Bower & Edleston, which he founded in 1854. He is particularly associated with the Gothic Revival style of architecture.In 1883, Bower was living...

 as a branch of the Midland Bank

Midland Bank

Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836...

, and later became a branch of Barclays. It is listed at grade II.

11 Churchyard Side is one of three banks in the town dating from the Victorian era which are listed buildings; the others are the former District Bank

1–3 Churchyard Side, Nantwich

1–3 Churchyard Side is a grade-II-listed Victorian Gothic building in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, located on the corner of Churchyard Side and Pepper Street , opposite St Mary's Church...

, designed by Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...

, also on Churchyard Side, and the former Savings Bank

39 Welsh Row, Nantwich

39 Welsh Row is a Victorian former savings bank, in Jacobean Revival style, in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. It stands on the south side of Welsh Row at the junction with St Anne's Lane . Dating from 1846, it is listed at grade II. Nikolaus Pevsner describes number 39 as "the first noteworthy...

 on Welsh Row.

History

The present building was constructed in 1876 as a branch of the Midland Bank

Midland Bank

Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836...

, to the design of Nantwich architect Thomas Bower

Thomas Bower

Thomas Bower was an English architect and surveyor based in Nantwich, Cheshire. He worked in partnership with Ernest H. Edleston at the Nantwich firm, Bower & Edleston, which he founded in 1854. He is particularly associated with the Gothic Revival style of architecture.In 1883, Bower was living...

. It was on the site of an earlier Midland Bank building, which employed a manager and seven clerks in 1871. Once part of the cemetery of the parish church, the site had previously housed a painter and a butcher's premises. The bank was later extended and altered in the same style. The Midland Bank is no longer listed in directories from 1892; Barclays Bank has occupied the building since 1939.

Description

The bank is a terraced ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

 building in Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 style, with two storeys and seven bays. Nikolaus Pevsner

Nikolaus Pevsner

Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...

 describes it as "later, smoother, equally Gothic" by comparison with the nearby District Bank

1–3 Churchyard Side, Nantwich

1–3 Churchyard Side is a grade-II-listed Victorian Gothic building in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, located on the corner of Churchyard Side and Pepper Street , opposite St Mary's Church...

, which was designed by Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...

. Its roof of Westmorland

Westmorland

Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...

 green slate is described by local historian Jane Stevenson as "beautiful". A band between ground and first floor is decorated with rectangular coffer

Coffer

A coffer in architecture, is a sunken panel in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault...

ing, which matches the dentil

Dentil

In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...

led cornice

Cornice

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...

 under the eaves

Eaves

The eaves of a roof are its lower edges. They usually project beyond the walls of the building to carry rain water away.-Etymology:"Eaves" is derived from Old English and is both the singular and plural form of the word.- Function :...

. There are also two plain stone bands, one on the ground floor beneath the windows and the other on the first floor at the level of the window heads.

The main entrance is at the left (west) side. It is flanked by two sets of paired orange columns and headed by a pointed arch. Above is a V-shaped stone moulding with two carved bosses

Boss (architecture)

In architecture, a boss is a knob or protrusion of stone or wood.Bosses can often be found in the ceilings of buildings, particularly at the intersection of a vault. In Gothic architecture, such roof bosses are often intricately carved with foliage, heraldic devices or other decorations...

 and an intricately carved quatrefoil

Quatrefoil

The word quatrefoil etymologically means "four leaves", and applies to general four-lobed shapes in various contexts.-In heraldry:In heraldic terminology, a quatrefoil is a representation of a flower with four petals, or a leaf with four leaflets . It is sometimes shown "slipped", i.e. with an...

 containing a dragon and foliage. The word "bank" is incised above the entrance. There are two stone mullion

Mullion

A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...

ed and transomed

Transom (architectural)

In architecture, a transom is the term given to a transverse beam or bar in a frame, or to the crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it. Transom is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece...

windows on the ground floor, which each consist of five two-light units with pointed arched heads. A two-unit "window" to the left of the main entrance is blocked. The first floor has seven windows, each of which is flanked by paired orange columns and headed with a pointed arch, with a V-shaped stone moulding above similar to that above the main entrance.

Sources

• Hall J. A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester (2nd edn) (E. J. Morten; 1972) (ISBN 0-901598-24-0)
• Lamberton A, Gray R. Lost Houses in Nantwich (Landmark Publishing; 2005) (ISBN 1-84306-202-X)
• Pevsner N, Hubbard E. The Buildings of England: Cheshire (Penguin Books; 1971) (ISBN 0-14-071042-6)
• Stevenson PJ. Nantwich: A Brief History and Guide (1994)