| Summary : The ruins of a two-storey gatehouse for a walled garden originally attached to Tilstone Hall. The house was built around 1600 by Thomas Wilbraham of Woodhey and, after damage during the Civil War, was pulled down in about 1740. The gatehouse is all that remains of this mansion and its garden. The gatehouse, which is Listed Grade II, is built of red sandstone ashlar with some brickwork repairs to the structure and brick infilling of the window openings. On the south west front there is a central pedestrian archway with moulded springers abd ovolo moulding to the arch voussoirs. This was flanked by mullioned windows with pediments over, now blocked with brickwork. The north east face is similar, with a central archway and blocked mullioned windows. One cabled Doric column survives on the right hand side of the doorway. Other columns are now missing. The building is somewhat similar to the screen at Speke Hall, Merseyside, in its proportions and the use of cabled Roman Doric columns. The gatehouse was probably intended to be used as a banqueting house in the upper storey and a retreat for the enjoyment of the garden. Scheduled. |