Churche's Mansion - Interior Features

Interior Features

The house is laid out around a large central hall connecting the mansion's two gabled end-pieces, which was used for dining. The other major rooms on the ground floor are the withdrawing room to the right of the hall, and the buttery and kitchen to the left; there is also a small entrance porch at the main Hospital Street entrance. The first floor has five main rooms: the upper hall (never open to the roof) and four solars (private upper rooms, some of which would have contained beds), as well as a small chapel. The attic is divided into five rooms and provided servants' accommodation.

The entrance porch has a panelled ceiling with inlaid decoration and a moulded doorcase with an 18th-century oak door. The hall has a spiral staircase between storeys; it also contains an original cupboard bearing the Churche's initials and crest, and the inscription "Blessed art thou that feares and walkest in His wayes for thou shalte eate and happie arte." The first floor hall features a coffin drop, a hole in the floor allowing the lowering of large items that would otherwise be difficult to manipulate on the narrow spiral staircase. Traditionally used for coffins, the coffin drop would also facilitate the movement of large pieces of furniture. Several rooms have large open fireplaces, with a brick inglenook fireplace in the kitchen. An Elizabethan well was discovered during renovation work.

The principal rooms on both ground and first floors feature oak panelling; that in one of the upper rear rooms is Elizabethan. This room also features a fine carved overmantel with a woven love knot and central heart; the ground floor room to the right of the hall contains a further good example of a carved overmantel. One of the rooms has panels decorated with intersecting triangles.