Willington Hall is a former country house in the parish of Willington

Willington, Cheshire

Willington is a village and civil parish, about from Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England....

, 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 was extended in 1878, but reduced in size in the 1950s, and has since been in use as a hotel.

History

The house was built in 1829 for Major W. Tomkinson, and designed by the 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...

 architect George Latham

George Latham (architect)

George Latham was an English architect and surveyor, from the town of Nantwich in Cheshire.-Life:Latham married the daughter of the Wesleyan Methodist minister of Nantwich, the Reverend Thomas Gee...

. In 1878 a new east front was added for James Tomkinson

James Tomkinson

James Tomkinson PC was an English landowner and Liberal Party politician.Born in 1840, Tomkinson lived at Willington Hall, Chester, and was High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1887...

. At the same time a new wing and stable locks were added, and in the 1920s a laundry block was built. During the 1950s it was reduced in size, removing the 1878 east front and some of the outbuildings. In 1955 a portico

Portico

A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

 was added, and it has since been in use as a hotel. The house has been designated by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as a Grade II listed building.

Architecture

Willington Hall is constructed in orange brick with buff sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 dressings and a Welsh slate

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

 roof. The brickwork is decorated with diapering

Diapering

Diaper is any of a wide range of decorative patterns used in a variety of works of art, such as stained glass, heraldic shields, architecture, silverwork etc. Its chief use is in the enlivening of plain surfaces.-Etymology:...

 in blue brick. The architectural style is described as Jacobean

Jacobean architecture

The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...

, or Neo-Elizabethan. The building is square in plan, plus a wing to the north. It has two storeys and an attic. The façades are symmetrical The garden front faces south and consists of three bays

Bay (architecture)

A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...

. The lateral bays contain cant

Cant

Cant, canting, or canted may refer to:*Empty, uncritical thought or talk - see *The slope or angle at which something is set, such as the frames of a ship's hull - again, see *Cant , a secret language...

ed bay window

Bay window

A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...

s and have shaped gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

s. The windows are 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...

. The entrance bay faces east and also has three bays, the lateral bays having triangular gables. At the front of the central bay is a porch with four Tuscan

Tuscan order

Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...

 columns.

Associated structures

There are two structures associated with the hall that are also Grade II listed buildings. The first is a sundial

Sundial

A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...

 in the garden dating from about 1830 and constructed in 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...

buff sandstone. The other consists of the south and east walls of the terrace, that are also in sandstone.