Saighton Grange Gatehouse

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Saighton Grange, colored wash by Pickering, 1817; the flanking medieval ranges were demolished in 1861.
Saighton Grange, colored wash by Pickering, 1817; the flanking medieval ranges were demolished in 1861.

Saighton Grange Gatehouse is the remaining part of Saighton Grange, a monastic grange in the village of Saighton, Cheshire, England (grid reference SJ443618). It is a Grade I listed building and is one of only two surviving monastic manorial buildings in Cheshire, the other being Ince Manor.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

The manor of Saighton was held by the secular canons of St Werburgh in Chester before the Norman conquest. In Domesday Book it is listed as Saltone[2] In 1093 it was confirmed to the Benedictine monks of St Werburgh's Abbey by Hugh Lupus.[3] The site was granted a licence to crenellate in 1399, and this was confirmed in 1410,[4] but the privilege was apparently not acted upon: "Saighton was primarily an agricultural centre until it was converted to residential use in the fifteenth century."[5] The manor house was built about 1489 for Simon Ripley, Abbot of St Werburgh's. Following the dissolution of the monasteries the manor passed through several hands and in time the house was separated from the manor. In the 1840s the house was bought by the 2nd Marquess of Westminster.[3] The monastic buildings, other than the gatehouse were demolished in 1861 and replaced by a two storey building which was extended in 1876.[4] In the 1880s the building was occupied by Earl Grosvenor.[3] It was converted into a school in 1977.[4]

[edit] Structure

The imposing late fifteenth-century gatehouse built in front of an earlier wide-arched vehicular entry[6] is built in red sandstone and consists of three storeys including the archway. The second story has an oriel window in the left wall, supported on a moulded base with the wolf's head badge of abbot Ripley,[7] and smaller windows on the front and right walls. The third storey has four sets of four-light mullioned windows, two sets being on the front and one set on each side. The parapet is crenellated. On the left wall is a merlon which projects above the parapet and contains a niche with a statue. At the rear left corner is a square stair turret which rises higher than the summit of the gatehouse.[1]

[edit] Associated buildings

Saighton was not a closed quadrangle, according to Anthony Emery, but faced a yard with stabling and outbuildings.[8] The adjoining 19th century house is listed Grade II,[9] as is the chapel in the grounds.[10] Also in the grounds are part of the medieval boundary wall which is built of sandstone rubble. This stands on bedrock on the edge of a rock cutting and is thought to have been a form of light fortification.[4] The house is now in use as a school, Abbey Gate College.[11] The modern garden scheme, open in aid of the National Garden Scheme, includes a Japanese garden.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Images of England: Abbey Gate College Gatehouse. English Heritage. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
  2. ^ Domesday Book on-line: Cheshire
  3. ^ a b c Ormerod, George; Thomas Helsby (Ed.) (1882). The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, 2nd, London: George Routledge and Sons, ii: 769–770. 
  4. ^ a b c d Pastscape:. English Heritage. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
  5. ^ Anthony Emery, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500
  6. ^ Emery 1996.
  7. ^ Noted by Emery 1996.
  8. ^ Anthony Emery, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500 1996:569f.
  9. ^ Images of England: Abbey Gate College. English Heritage. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
  10. ^ Images of England: Abbey Gate College Chapel. English Heritage. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
  11. ^ Abbey Gate College. Abbey Gate College. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.

[edit] External links