A Day Out to Old Whittington - Part 3

  

An old well on the green at Church Street North

Continuing my day out to Old Whittington, I made my further along Church Street North past Mary Swanwick Primary School, which dates back to 1848 with further additions as the numbers of pupils increased, but it still retains much of its Victorian School character.

 

Mary Swanwick Primary School

 

Just beyond the school, Nos. 48-50 comprise a pair of semi-detached houses that date to the C18 and are built with sandstone ashlar, with a Welsh slate roof. I just took a couple of general record photographs of these and carried on along to the next building on my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge. 

 

Nos. 48-50 Church Street North

 

Holly House is a large C19 house built with coursed sandstone with a hipped Welsh slate roof, which is now used as the Holly Hill Special School. I just took a single photo from the roadside of the rear elevation before retracing my steps along Church Street North. 

 

Holly House

 

Next on my listed was the raised pavement, described by Historic England (HE) as either C18 or C19, which is an interesting feature that adds great character to the Conservation Area. It is set next to small green at the centre of a triangular junction with Church Lane North, where there is one of several old wells in the village - as seen on the 1:25,000 scale Ordnance Survey map. 

 

Views of the raised pavement

 

The next building on my Photo Challenge was Nos. 54-56 Church Street North, a pair of C18 cottages that are built with an iron rich Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation sandstone, possibly the Deep Hard Rock, with a stone slate roof. 

 

Nos. 54-56 Church Street North

 

From here, the road changes to Church Lane North and my next stop, a high boundary wall, is described by HE as “Boundary wall extending along eastern boundary of footpath between No. 65 and the churchyard of St Bartholomew’s Church”, but no information is provided about its date or the reason why it is Grade II listed. 

 

The Grade II listed boundary wall

Returning to Church Lane North, I could only get a glimpse of The Close, a house which the HE description dates as “C16/C17 origin with C18 and later additions and alterations”. It is another example of the use of PLCMF sandstone and, when enlarging my photo, the slates used for the roof look both grey/purple and green in colour. 

 

The Close

 

I then had a good look at St. Bartholomew’s church and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones, which I will describe in future posts, before following a public footpath to High Street through woodland, where I picked some wild garlic that was growing near the stream.

 

steps on the path to High Street from St. Bartholomew's church

Shortly before arriving on High Street, I stopped to take a photograph of the west elevation of the entrance lodge to Whittington Grange, described by HE as “C18/early C19 facade. Stone rubble. Slate roof with large off centre chimney. 2 storeys. Modern leaded casements. Stone porch”. 

 

The west elevation of the lodge to Whittington Grange

 

When passing the entrance to the lodge on High Street, I noted that building work was being undertaken and, although trying to be discreet when taking a photograph from the public highway – which in law I am perfectly entitled to do – one of the workmen had seen me doing this and came to challenge me. 

 

A general view of the lodge to Whittington Grange

Having explained that I was just participating in a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, we got talking about the damp proofing work that they were undertaking and my specialist interest in building stones, before I continued to Elmwood. 

 

A view of Elmwood from the entrance

The HE description of this Grade II listed house is again extremely sparse - “Early C19. Coursed stone. Modern hipped tiled roof. 2 storeys. 3 windows cambered headed sashes to upper floor, square headed casements to ground floor, all with Gothick glazing bars. Later solid porch”, but I had to be content with taking a few record photos that just get a glimpse of it. 

 

A partial view of Elmwood

Further along High Street, the lodge to Whittington Hall Hospital is also partially obscured by a tall hedge and the HE description for this property, which is only listed for group value, is also minimal so I just took a couple of general photos before continuing up Woodmere Drive. 

 

The lodge to Whittington Hall Hospital

The last building on my Photo Challenge was the former Whittington Hall Hospital, which incorporates Whittington Hall (c.1829). It was built by Henry Dixon, who inherited the estate of John Dixon – an industrialist who was the last member of the family who had originally founded a glassworks back in 1710. 

 

Views of the former Whittington hall Hospital

 

Yet again the HE description doesn’t provide very much information, especially relating to the buildings that were added to the original house in the later C19 and I just took a few photos of the south-west and south-east elevations before returning to High Street – passing a modern sculpture with crucibles that is dedicated to the metallurgist Harry Brearley, who lived in Old Whittington for a few years.

 

The modern sculpture with crucibles on Woodmere Drive