Listed Building record MDR22918 - The Coopers Arms Public House, Formerly Weston Hall, off Main Street, Weston upon Trent

The Coopers Arms Public House, Formerly Weston Hall, off Main Street, Weston upon Trent, built c1633. 'Anthony Roper is said to have begun work on the building of Weston Hall somewhere around 1628 to 1633. Intended to be a large, H-plan house of comparable size to Hardwick Hall, and possibly erected on the site of an earlier house, it was never completed. The reason for this is not certain, but it is generally assumed that Roper became impoverished or even bankrupt, and/or the work was halted by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642, during which period it was reputedly used as a barracks for a garrison of Parliamentary troops. ...The house had been let out to George Poulton of Desborough since 1637, but he gave up the lease in 1641. Its architectural character is thought to have been influenced by Sir Thomas Holte’s Aston Hall in Birmingham, as Thomas was the father of Anthony Roper’s second wife, Dorothy. ...The Weston Manor estate was then divided, during 1647-48, between Robert Holden of Shardlow, gentleman, and his cousin, Nicholas Willimott (later spelled ‘Wilmot’). ...The manor lordship of Weston remained in the ownership of the Holden family until its sale by Edward Holden in 1898, but Weston Hall is believed to have passed from the Holdens to the Shuttleworth and Lee families, before being purchased by Thomas Pares around 1790. Pares was still the owner when Daniel and Samuel Lyson published the fifth volume (Derbyshire) of their Magna Britannia in 1817. It was then already occupied by a tenant as a farmhouse.' (1) From the National Heritage List for England: 'This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 23 November 2022 to amend date of construction, to add a reference to selected sources and to reformat the text to current standards. SK 42 NW 4/261 PARISH OF WESTON-UPON-TRENT MAIN STREET (west side) Weston Hall (formerly listed as Hall Farmhouse) 2.9.52 II* Large, unfinished, country house. Early C17, with dendrochronological analysis identifying date of felling in or around 1628 with construction shortly after, with minor later alterations. Built for the Roper family. Red brick with stone dressings, moulded stone stringcourses to each floor and above attic windows, flush ashlar quoins, and ashlar basement. Slate roofs with moulded stone copings to gables on plain kneelers and large quoined external brick side wall stacks. Three storeys with attics and basement. Probably intended to be H-plan but only one side wing and single bay of central wing erected. North facade of five bays, with central gabled staircase tower with two-light recessed and chamfered mullion windows plus small pane casements, to each floor. To east, the basement has a C20 door and a blocked two-light recessed and chamfered mullion window. Ground floor has two three-light C20 cross timber casement windows in original recessed and chamfered surrounds. Above two two-light recessed and chamfered mullioned and transomed windows with casements and above again one similar window to east. To west side of staircase there are later brick additions to basement and first floor, to east side. Western ground floor window has a door inserted below the transom. Above, first floor has similar two-light windows as those to east and above there are two similar blocked windows. Gable walls have similar openings, that to west with all original openings complete, ie: with recessed and chamfered two-light mullion and transomed windows to each floor and a two-light recessed and chamfered mullion window in the attic. East gable wall has had the mullions and transoms to ground and first floor windows removed and replaced by three-light timber cross casement windows. South elevation has jagged brick edges to central wing with a blank internal brick wall facing the exterior. To either side it has a similar arrangements of windows to those on the gable walls. In the re-entrant angle to west there is a small projecting part with circular stone windows to each floor. Interior has a full height open well staircase with four full height newels and moulded handrail with single stud to centre or wattle and daub panels. Eastern ground floor room has C17 panelling and a large chamfered stone fireplace with panelled overmantle. Adjoining room to west has the remains of similar panelling. Internal cross walls are all timber framed. Second floor and attics are unused and have no plaster on the walls. Second floor rooms have large chamfered stone fireplaces and stone doorcases. The roof has large double purlin strut trusses. Basement has large chamfered ceiling beams and houses the original kitchen, which has a massive chamfered stone fireplace. The house was probably built c1633 when the manor was granted to Anthony Roper by James I. It is said the Ropers became impoverished before building had gone very far and the unfinished structure was sold in 1649. The house was reputedly used as a barracks for the soldiers when Civil War fighting broke out in Weston in 1644. Listing NGR: SK4032628350.' (1)