page_title: Combermere Abbey
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Combermere Abbey / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Combermere Abbey; view from east
context_page_description: Combermere Abbey is a former monastery, later a country house, near Burleydam, between Nantwich and Whitchurch in Cheshire, England, near the border with Shropshire. Initially Savigniac and later Cistercian, the abbey was founded in the 1130s by Hugh Malbank, Baron of Nantwich, and was also associated with Ranulf de Gernons, Earl of Chester. The abbey initially flourished, but by 1275 was sufficiently deeply in debt to be removed from the abbot's management. From that date until its dissolution in 1538, it was frequently in royal custody, and acquired a reputation for poor discipline and violent disputes with both lay people and other abbeys. It was the third largest monastic establishment in Cheshire, based on net income in 1535.
  After the dissolution it was acquired by Sir George Cotton, who demolished the church and most of the buildings, and converted part of the abbey into a country house. The house was remodelled in 1563 by Sir George's son, Richard Cotton, altered in 1795 by Sir Robert Cotton, and Gothicised in 1814–21 by Stapleton Cotton, Viscount Combermere. It remained in the Cotton family until 1919, and is still in private ownership.
context_section_description: Little remains of the original monastic buildings, although remnants of medieval stonework from an arch are concealed in a cupboard in the house, and pieces of carved stone have been found in the grounds. The existing house, a grade I listed building, incorporates a building from the west range of the monastery, generally considered to represent the Abbot's House. It has a timber frame with a late-medieval false hammerbeam roof, described by de Figueiredo and Treuherz as "extremely fine" and "exceptionally grand." The timbers are decorated with coats of arms, including those of the abbey, and elaborate bosses to the centre of the trusses. Hammerbeam roofs are rare in Cheshire; the only other known examples are at Vale Royal Abbey and St Nicholas' Chapel in the park of Cholmondeley Castle.  The north end of the Great Hall retains the abbey's dais canopy, and in the centre is a smoke bay and louvre.
  De Figueiredo and Treuherz write: "Seen from a distance, Combermere appears as a romantic ivy-clad vision of battlements and pinnacles. But its detail is coarse, its massing inept..." Most of the exterior remains coated in grey cement render, in part painted white. The windows throughout feature Y-tracery and are headed with cusped arches. The parapets all have battlements and the roofs are of slate.
  The east (entrance) face has three storeys. In the centre is a projecting gabled single-storey porch bearing a stone panel with the Cotton family arms; it is flanked by octagonal turrets. To the south (left) is an octagonal turret. The projecting wing to the south has been reduced to two storeys. To the north (right) of the entrance porch was the Wellington Wing, now demolished. Parts of the render on the north wing have fallen off, revealing the timber frame to the upper storeys, which has ornamental panelling including roundel designs, and carved quatrefoil and fleur-de-lys motifs to the main timbers.
  The west (lakeside) face has eight bays, with projecting wings at each end, which each have triple windows to the ground floor. The bays on this face have full-height recessed arches and are separated by pilasters. The single-storey Gothic-style porch is set asymmetrically and consists of three arches; above it is a slight gable. To the south (right) of the southern wing is a further recessed wing which has been reduced to two storeys, with the render removed to expose red brick; it has a two-storey canted bay window.
caption: East face, showing the entrance porch (right) and part of the service court (left)
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