Churche's Mansion - History

History

Churche's Mansion was built for Richard Churche and his wife Margerye by Thomas Clease in 1577. A panel under a window to the right of the main entrance bears the inscription:

Rychard Churche, and Margerye Churche, his wyfe mai iiii

Thomas Clease made this worke, anno dni, M,ccccc,lxxvii,

in the xviiii yere of the reane of our noble queene elesabeth

The only other remaining work signed by craftsman Thomas Clease (also Cleese) is the Queen's Aid House on Nantwich High Street, known for its inscription thanking Elizabeth I for her aid in the town's rebuilding after the Great Fire.

The land in "Hospitull Strete" on which the mansion was built had been granted to John and Nicolas Churchehouse of Grayste (Gresty) in 1474/5 by John Marchomley and his son John, Richard and William Cholmondeley, and John Bromley. By the late 16th century, the Churche family (known variously as Church, Chirche, Kyrke and Churchehouse) was a prominent one in Nantwich. Richard Churche was a wealthy local merchant who, at his death in 1592, owned "one wiche-house of six leads in Wich Malbank", as well as considerable land holdings both locally and in Shropshire and Stafford. His wife, Margerye or Margaret Churche, daughter of Roger Wright, came from another significant Nantwich family; she survived her husband, living until 1599.

Standing on the edge of the old town, the recently completed Churche's Mansion survived the fire of 1583 which destroyed almost all of Nantwich east of the River Weaver. The only other buildings known to have survived were Sweetbriar Hall, also on Hospital Street, and the parish church. Richard Churche willed "the house ... wherein I now dwell on the Ospell Street" to his second son, Rondull, Randol or Randle Church(e). The house is mentioned among the principal houses of the town in a 1622/3 account by William Webb, who describes the mansion as "a fair timber-house of Mr. Randol Church, a gentleman of singular integrity." Randle Church survived until 1648, outliving his son and grandson, and Churche's Mansion then passed to the Shropshire branch of the family, descended from Richard Churche's eldest son, William. The Churche family inhabited the house until at least 1691, when a rate book records Saboth Church as the resident and gives the rates as 2 shillings 8½ pence.

Although Saboth Church (also Sabbath or Sabboth) was the last Churche family member to live in the mansion (he died in 1717), it remained in the family's possession until the 20th century, with a succession of tenants. In the early 19th century, the mansion was tenanted by a tanner and later by an attorney-at-law. In 1858–68, it was untenanted, and was used as a granary and hay store by a local cowkeeper. From 1869 until at least 1883, it housed the ladies' boarding and day school of Mrs E.H. Rhodes. The mansion later fell into disrepair, and in 1930, it was saved from dismantling to ship to the USA by local resident Edgar Myott and his wife, who purchased the building and began restoration work. It was listed at grade I on 19 April 1948. During much of the 20th century it was used as a restaurant, and it has been an antiques shop since 2001. In 2007 the mansion was featured on Most Haunted: Midsummer Murders.