The Chantry House

, by Robert Peake the Elder (1588)]] Sir Ralph Egerton (also Raufe or Rafe; before 1476–1528) – standard bearer to Henry VIII, who awarded him the nearby manor of Ridley – commissioned a chantry chapel to be added to St Boniface's Church in Bunbury. The chantry (known as the Ridley Chapel) was begun by 1527, but remained incomplete at Egerton's death in 1528, and was finished under the provisions of his will. The Chantry House was built at the same time to house two chantry priests, According to Egerton's will, the Chantry House was to be constructed with stone and roofed in Welsh slate, and was to have two rooms, a parlour and a buttery–kitchen. The chantry was endowed with mills at…

The Chantry House is located at on Wyche Road in Bunbury, Cheshire, immediately south of St Boniface's Church. It is listed at grade II*, It was formerly known as the Old School House. Earthworks, possibly representing foundations of formerly associated buildings, lie to the east of the existing building. The first floor features arch braces, which start from vertical timbers and go up to meet the wall plate; these are typical of the Midlands variety of timber framing. Both forms of brace are large. The Chantry House is an early surviving example of a residential timber-framed building in Cheshire. There are four Tudor-arched fireplaces in stone, surmounted by very large lintels. On the…