Congreve House

Summary

A brick clad house that has a 17th century timber frame to its front range with later additions.

Reasons for Designation

Congreve House, Walton-on-the-Hill, Stafford, a C17 house with later additions, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a good example of a C17 house, built with a timber frame to a baffle-entry plan, later clad in brick to maintain its status;
* the building has a high degree of survival in its plan form, its timber frame, its fireplace and high quality main stair.

Historic interest:

* the association with the Congreve family, military innovators of the late-C18 and early-C19, adds historic interest to the house.

History

Congreve House takes its name from the Congreve family; William Congreve, 1st Baronet of Walton (1742-1814) was born there. The 1st Baronet oversaw improvements in gunpowder production in the late C18, and his son, also William, the 2nd Baronet (1772-1828) was the inventor of the ‘Congreve Rocket’, an artillery rocket used in the Napoleonic wars. The house is of two ranges, front and rear, with the front earlier. The front range has a central doorway that opens to a small lobby to the side of the central chimney stack, this ‘baffle entry’ plan was falling out of use at the end of the C17. The exposed internal timber framing is stylistically consistent with a C17 date for the house. At some time after initial construction, probably in the C18, the exterior of the property was clad in brick.

The house appears on the 1846 tithe map, with the accompanying apportionments detailing that at that time the owner of the house, as well as the meadow and pasture plot adjoining to the west, was Thomas William Anson (1795-1854), the Earl of Lichfield. In 1846 both plots were occupied by a William Kent. This 1846 map shows a house with a square front range with a porch, and a long narrow rectangular range centrally to the rear, with a small outbuilding to the east of the house and a larger outbuilding to the north-east. The building to the east is thought to have housed a pump over the (extant) stone lined well in that location. The first edition 1881 Ordnance Survey (OS) map shows extensions to the rear of main house either side of the rear range. The 1881 OS map also shows new outbuildings to the north and east, with the northern outbuilding gone by the time of the 1901 OS map. By the time of the 1923 OS map another addition had been made to the north end of the rear range’s west elevation. The 1971 OS map shows that the rear range had been extend to the north. This northern extension appears to have been made using reclaimed materials, and is visible via a straight vertical join with the rear range. Post 1971, a double garage replaced the north-eastern outbuilding and uPVC windows and external doors were inserted in the house. The roof has had a recent recovering in clay tiles.

Details

A brick clad house that has a C17 timber frame to its front range with later additions.

PLAN: ‘T’ shaped, formed of two rectangular ranges.

MATERIALS: brick walls with clay tile roof, modern uPVC windows and doors.

EXTERIOR: the house has pitched roofs over two stories with cellar and attic floors. Walls are brick, with the front range in Flemish bond to its front, and to its sides a bond of courses of three stretchers to one header. There are three chimney stacks: the first centrally across the ridge of the roof of the front range, the second centrally across the ridge of the rear range, and the third to the side. Openings are under shallow segmental brick arches of one course of rowlock facing bricks, or two courses of alternating double rowlock and soldier facing bricks. Other windows are inserted straight into the brickwork, or under flat lintels. There are three roof lights in the west slope of the rear range’s roof. A horizontal stringcourse of slightly projecting bricks extends around all elevations of both ranges above the ground floor windows. A second matching moulding is at the roof-slope eaves level across the east and west front gables and rear north gable. The eaves within the gables are also decorated in this style with two courses of projecting bricks.

The front, south elevation is symmetrical with a central porch under a pitched roof to the ground floor, and two windows to each floor. The east gable end has three openings, all in line with the apex of the gable: a single French door to the ground floor, and a window to first and attic floors. Beyond is the rear range, which has scattered openings, the two southern of which are arranged vertically and light the main stair. A small lean-to porch covers the central doorway to the hall. A single-storey storage building has been inserted south of this porch, against the north end of the front range and projecting slightly to the east. The mid-C20 north end of the east elevation extends out under a short catslide roof from the line of the rear range.

The west elevation of the front range largely mirrors the east. Beyond is the extension added between 1846 and 1881. North of the 1846-1881 extension is the old end of the north range, then northernmost is the mid-C20 extension.

INTERIOR: entry to the house was formerly through the porch on the south side of the front range. This allowed access from a small lobby to the reception rooms either side of the fireplace; dining room to the east and living room to the west. The doorway from porch to dining room was sealed off in the C20. The living room has a wide inglenook fireplace under a timber bressummer on its east side, and has chamfered joists and beams, with stops to the joists. Some timber framing is exposed in its north wall. The dining room has its original floorboards (some replaced) uncovered, a single chamfered beam in the ceiling, and shows box timber framing with a diagonal brace to the east wall. The fireplace is altered to a smaller opening than that in the living room and is under a modern timber lintel.

The present main entrance to the house is under the small porch in the centre of the north range’s east elevation. This opens into a hallway with the main stair to the left and rear chimney to the right. The rear chimney has a bread oven in its south side. Chamfered joists run north to south in the hallway ceiling. In the north-eastern corner of the kitchen is the rear staircase, made of reclaimed material, this rises to the attic floor in a series of straight flights and winders.

The main stairs date to the C17 and are closed string with turned balusters, simply moulded handrails and square newel posts. Many of the stair treads are replacements. The stairs rise to the attic floor in dog legs with half landings, with no balustrade to the first straight flight up from the ground floor. The first-floor rooms of the front range have chamfered ceiling timbers, with stopped joists, as well as box timber framing to the walls.

The second, attic floor retains some original floorboards. There are two bedrooms in the front range, accessed up two steps from the landing at the top of the main stair. The front rooms both have exposed roof timbers. Purlins are visible running the length of the range and into its north end wall.

Entry to the cellar is gained through the lean-to projection in the angle between the two ranges on the east side of the house. This has painted brick walls and a quarry tile floor. Stairs lead down from the west side of this room to a cellar space which shows the floor joists of the front range above.

Sources

Websites
Walton-on-the-Hill - house of Sir William Congreve: pencil and wash drawing, dated C1700-1799, William Salt Library collection, accessed 11 March 2025 from https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=7222&PageIndex=95&SearchType=2&ThemeID=203

Other
Ordnance Survey 1:2500 maps published: 1881, 1901, 1923 and 1971
Congreve, Sir William, second baronet, Roger T Stearn, 2022; entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The National Archives: Tithe Commission and successors: Tithe apportionments IR29/32/21: 1846 tithe map and apportionments, Baswich Parish. Staffordshire,

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