WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



CHILDWALL 



Watt of Sfeke. 

 Per pale or and azure, a 

 fesse nebulee befween four 

 Jleurs-de-lisy all counter- 

 changed. 



and north, and set in picturesque grounds which as 

 yet show little traces of damage from the chemical 

 fumes which have done so much to destroy the beauty 

 of the neighbourhood. 



The house is an admirable specimen of timber con- 

 struction, being built round a central court and 

 enclosed by a wide moat, now 

 dry and grass grown, the chief 

 entrance being on the east, 

 reached by a stone bridge of 

 two arches spanning the moat. 

 The hall is at the north 

 end of the west wing, with 

 the great chamber adjoining it 

 on the north, the kitchens and 

 offices being in the south wing, 

 and the chief living rooms on 

 the north and east. The build- 

 ings appear to be of two main 

 dates, the south and east wings, 

 except the north end of the 

 latter, being the parts built by Edward Norris about 

 1598, while the north and west wings are of earlier 

 detail, and probably date from the beginning of the 

 sixteenth century. There is nothing to show that 

 anything older than this is standing. 



Edward Norris's work follows the older building in 

 general design, and is apparently a completion of an 

 interrupted scheme, the main differences being in the 

 smaller details, which show a marked renaissance feel- 

 ing completely absent from the older work. The 

 irregular setting out of the court is probably due to an 

 alteration from the design during the course of the 

 later work, the kitchen wing being swung southwards 

 in order to allow room for a bay window in the south- 

 west angle of the court, making an architectural balance 

 to the hall window in the north-west angle. This care 

 for symmetry is a sign of the growth of classical taste 

 characteristic of the latter part of the sixteenth century, 

 and is worthy of note in a building which in other 

 respects is thoroughly Gothic in general effect. 



The barge boards and gable finials are the most 

 elaborate features, the cinquefoiled traceries of the 

 former being imitated, though with somewhat clumsy 

 detail, in the later sixteenth-century work. The rich 

 quatrefoiled panelling of wood and plaster, which is 

 used to such excellent purpose in many of the old 

 timber houses of the district, occurs in the court- 

 yard and garden front of Speke, and the close set 

 upright and diagonal timbers, and the variety and 

 unequal projections of the gables, make the house as 

 a whole perhaps the most attractive of all the beautiful 

 timber-built houses which the county has to show. 

 The roofs are covered with heavy grey stone slates, 

 making a charming contrast with the black and white 

 walls, and a panelled cove runs round the walls and 

 across the gables at the eaves level. The main fram- 

 ing — posts, sills, and heads — is of oak 10 in. square, 

 resting on dwarf walls of red sandstone ashlar, and 

 towards the court the uprights, set about 5 ft. 6 in. 

 apart on the south wing, and about 7 ft. elsewhere, 

 are marked out by shallow wooden ' buttresses ' with 

 profiles suggested by the weatherings of masonry but- 

 tresses, many times repeated. 



The bridge by which the entrance doorway is 

 reached is built of sandstone ashlar, with two round- 

 headed arches and cutwater piers, and the doorway 

 itself has a four-centred sandstone arch flanked by 

 wing walls of masonry with heavy stone cresting, and 



is set in a projecting bay with a six-light window on 

 the first floor. In the spandrels of the arch are the 

 initials of Edward Norris and his wife Margaret 

 (Smallwood). 



The bay is more richly treated than the rest of 

 the front, having a band of quatrefoils in the gable, 

 and below the first-floor window and above the latter 

 band is Edward Norris's inscription : ' This worke 

 twenty-five yards long was wholly builded by Edw: N: 

 Esq: Ano. 1598.' To the left of the entrance, when 

 the outer door is passed, is the porter's lodge and the 

 passage to the kitchen wing, and on the right a wider 

 doorway opening to the corridor running round the 

 inner side of the north and east wings, and giving 

 access to the ground-floor rooms. South of the 

 porter's lodge is a projecting bay, the ground-floor 

 room in which has an arched head to its east window, 

 and is said to have been the chapel ; it is now a ser- 

 vants' hall. North of the main entrance is a large 

 room with fireplaces at each end, and doubtless once 

 divided into two ; it is now used as a morning room. 

 At the north-east angle of the house, where the 

 junction between the early and late sixteenth-century 

 work occurs, is a large gable projecting eastward — the 

 details of its windows showing that it belongs to the 

 older part of the building. Edward Norris's work 

 begins from this point southwards, and includes all 

 the rest of the east wing, about 80 ft. long, thus 

 agreeing fairly well with the 25 yds. mentioned in his 

 inscription over the entrance doorway. 



The rooms on the ground floor of the north wing 

 are for the most part unimportant, the largest being 

 that at the east end, now a billiard room ; but at the 

 west end is the chief staircase, nearly opposite the 

 upper entrance to the hall, and beyond it the great 

 chamber, a splendid room with a richly worked plaster 

 ceiling, and a large fireplace at the north-west, lighted 

 by an eight-light window on the west, and a deep bay 

 window on the north. The details of the latter show, 

 however, that it is of later date than the room. Over 

 the fireplace is a very elaborate chimney-piece of 

 wood, with many figures representing members of the 

 Norris family ; the execution is very inferior to the 

 general details of the room. At the south-west angle 

 a small stone entrance porch has been added, bearing 

 the date 1 61 2, and the initials of William Norris and 

 his wife Eleanor (Molyneux). 



The great hall, which adjoins the great chamber on 

 the south, is of the full height of the two stories of the 

 house, and has a flat panelled ceiling with diagonal 

 ribs and heavy moulded beams, and at its upper or 

 north end a canopy with a panelled soffit over the site 

 of the high table, which with the dais on which it 

 stood has long since been removed. The width of 

 the hall is 25 ft. 6 in., and its extreme length 33 ft. 

 At the north-east is a fine bay window of four canted 

 sides, with twelve square-headed lights divided by a 

 transom, and a flat panelled ceiling with moulded ribs 

 converging to a carved central boss. On the transom 

 is carved a vine trail. On the opposite side of the 

 hall, at the north-west corner, is a rectangular chamber 

 opening with its full width to the hall, but of less 

 height, and having a large fireplace on the south, and 

 a six-light window on the west. The hall itself is 

 lighted by a large four-light window on either side 

 below the projecting bays, and has also on either side 

 a range of upper windows. The four-light windows 

 are insertions of the end of the sixteenth century or 

 later, and it is probable that the body of the hall was 



137 



