Building record 0404401000 - CHILTON HOUSE

Dimensions - Length 29m, Width 18m.
Plan Form - Rectangular.
House built for Sir John Croke in form of H. 1740 taken down & rebuilt, retaining some traces of the old building (B1).
Interesting example of C18 alteration of earlier building. N & S walls & cellars - traces of original building (B2).
Grade II+. Country house, pavilions and cour d'honneur, C16, enlarged and given new entrance and garden fronts c1740. Brick with stone basement and dressings. Hipped tiled roofs. 3 storeys and basement. 9 bay front. C16 house half H plan with wings projecting to west. C1740 infilled space between wings and substantially rebuilt much of remainder. East or Entrance front has rusticated stone basement. Central doorcase of Ionic engaged columns, entablature and pediment, glazed double doors, approached by double flight of 12 stone steps. Flanking pairs of bays framed by stone Doric pilasters supporting stone cornice above third floor windows. The line of the pilasters carried up through tall brick parapet. Parapet has stone framed recesses in line with windows below. All ground floor and the 5 central first floor windows have banded stone rusticated jambs and stepped voussoir heads. Remainder have stone architraves with keystones. The 5 centre bays are slightly projecting. Garden or west front. Plainer with stone basement. Sash windows with keystones, but brick jambs and segmental brick arches. Centre 5 bays project slightly and their outer bays have arched staircase windows, the lower ones with sidelights and cornice to produce Venetian windows. Stone cornice band and coped parapet. North elevations has 2 full height projecting chimneys with offsets. Each has 2 diagonal fls of C16 brick, the west one and part of the walls have diaper brickwork patterns. Lead rainwater pipes and hopper heads. South elevation has 2 full height projecting stacks also, but with 2 square flues to each. Both flanks have stone cornice bands and ramped coped parapets. Interior. Entrance hall panelled with fluted Corinthian pilasters and modillion cornice. Fireplace has open pedimented surround. Open pediment overdrops, lugged architrave frames. Plaster centrepiece to ceiling of high quality. Main staircase hall to right with staircase with 3 twisted balusters per tread, carved tread ends and moulded hand rail. Fluted columnar newel. Panelled dado and ramped rails. Dentil eaves to hall. Secondary staircase to left altered, but upper flights have 2 turned balusters per tread and ramped rails. Left hand ground floor front room is panelled with pedimented overdoors and Rococo plaster work to the ceiling. The right hand ground floor front room is also panelled with pedimented overdoors and modillion cornice. Other panelled ground floor rooms. First floor has right hand rooms with C18 panelling, some box cornices. Left hand rooms and rear right hand room have C17 panelling, perhaps reused. Second floor has C16 linen fold panelled room across whole of south wing. This room has high pointed barrel ceiling and may be long gallery of C16 house. Also on first floor at right is C16 fireplace with moulded stone jambs and 4-centred head. Cellars have 3 and 4 centred barrel vaults in brick, mostly C16. South elevation has (now internal) a 4-centred arched doorway with moulded jambs and above a 4-light window with pointed heads and square outer order with moulded label. At south is modern single storey range of 4 bays with dormer windows. Cour d'Honneur. Quadrant walls, altered, lead to flanking pavilions. Each quadrant has niche with rubbed brick dressings and is framed by pilasters and a pediment. Then arched doorways and side walls of Pavilions. Pavilions of 3 bays by 3 bays with hipped old tile roofs. One storey plus dormers. Brick on a tall stone plinth, stone cornice and panelled parapets.Each bay flanked by brick pilasters. Elevations to cour d'honneur have 3 arched recesses between pilasters with abacus band and keyblocks. North pavilion has casement windows in recesses. East fronts have wider centre bay with blocked arched centre door flanked by segment arched windows. Outer bays have window with roundel at left or niches over second windows. 3 dormers. Each has central wood clock turret, and octagonal arched belfry crowned with ogee cupola and weathervane. North pavilion has wind dial instead of clock face and is used as stables. South pavilion residential and called 'The Clocktower'. North and south walls of cour d'honneur brick with moulded copings and plinth ramping up to pavilions. Entrance screen to east has wrought iron railings on low brick wall with stone copings. 4 piers with stone caps, outer ones with pineapple finials, inner with urns. Central wrought iron gates with scroll panel standards and overthrow. Chilton House was remodelled c1740 for Chief Justice Carter based on William Winde's Buckingham House of c1705 in London. RCHM I 105. MON.2 (B6).
Buildings report held at NMR (B9).
The house was plundered in 1644, during the Civil War, with the outer walls and doors broken down (B12).