Sweetbriar Hall

The original date is probably 15th century, and the hall is often considered the oldest half-timbered building in the town not to have been encased in brick.

It has been substantially altered from its original form, in particular with the addition of a pentagonal bay in the late 16th or early 17th centuries.

Joseph Priestley, scientist and philosopher, is believed to have lived at the hall in 1758–61, while he was minister at the nearby Unitarian chapel.

[2][10] The hall is generally considered to be the oldest half-timbered building in the town that has not been encased in brick.

[19][20] Rebuilding of the hall is recorded in 1577, at the date when Churche's Mansion was built further east along Hospital Street.

[3] The hall is known to have survived the fire of 1583, which reached the adjacent building and destroyed much of the centre of the town.

[9][21][22] Richard Wilbraham's journal entry for the fire records: In the 17th and 18th centuries, the hall was associated with the Nonconformist movement.

[26][27] In 1814, retired tobacconist and grocer Eddowes Bowman bought Sweetbriar Hall from the Leversage family.

They left Nantwich that year, and the hall was sold to Mary Bennion, passing via her sister Elizabeth to the Butterworth family, who were still living there in 1892.

[16] An engraving published in James Hall's History of 1883 shows the rendered front façade with hexagonal, octagonal, rectangular and diamond-shaped window lights, two 18th-century doorcases, several tall brick chimneys and an altered roofline.

[16][31] In photographs from around 1900 to the 1950s, the hall has a pebble-dashed appearance and retains the old windows, doorcases and chimneys; a front garden enclosed by low iron railings is also present.

[35] It stands at the junction with an old footpath, The Gullet,[6] now a pedestrian passage giving access to Wesley Close.

The projecting pentagonal wing was added to the end of the central hall in the late 16th or early 17th century.

Close studding with a middle rail is used on the back half of the west face, as well as parts of the Hospital Street façade.

[10] In number 65, the west (leftmost) wing projects and is gabled; its Hospital Street façade has jetties to the first and second floors.